Former U.S. President Barack Obama’s office has dismissed as “absurd and a distraction attempt” recent allegations that his administration suppressed intelligence to promote the narrative of Russian collusion in Donald Trump’s 2016 election win.
اضافة اعلان
In the first official response to a report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and former President Donald Trump, accusing the Obama administration of fabricating intelligence to undermine Trump's victory, Obama's office described the claims as shameful and ridiculous.
“Out of respect for the office of the presidency, we usually don’t comment on the constant stream of nonsense and misinformation coming from the White House,” Obama’s office stated. “But these particular claims are outrageous enough to merit a response. They are bizarre, absurd, and a flimsy attempt to distract the public.”
The statement emphasized that nothing in the document released last week undermines the long-standing conclusion that Russia did attempt to interfere in the 2016 election, although it did not succeed in altering any votes.
This conclusion was also affirmed in a 2020 Senate Intelligence Committee report led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio, which confirmed Russia’s interference attempts but found no evidence of vote manipulation.
The controversy follows a new intelligence report accusing the Obama administration of suppressing contradictory intelligence in 2016 and pushing a politically driven assessment to link Trump’s victory to Moscow.
Recently declassified documents, released by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, allege that senior Obama administration officials suppressed intel that contradicted the Russia-interference narrative. These documents reportedly show that a politically motivated intelligence assessment was launched just weeks before Obama left office, in coordination with officials including John Brennan, James Clapper, and James Comey.
One intelligence briefing draft from December 2016—which stated that Russian cyber activities had no direct impact on the election outcome—was allegedly withdrawn at the last minute and replaced following a secret White House meeting chaired by Obama.
Gabbard described the effort as "weaponizing intelligence for political purposes," citing discredited sources such as the Steele dossier, which helped shape official conclusions.
She further claimed there was a "conspiracy involving top-level Obama White House officials," vowing to hand over all evidence to the Department of Justice.
Adding fuel to the controversy, Trump recently posted an AI-generated video on Truth Social, showing federal agents arresting and imprisoning Barack Obama.
