Justice Department Opens Grand Jury Probe Into ‘Russiagate’

The Department of Justice staff will act on the criminal referral from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard related to the reputed conspiracy to tie Donald Trump to Russia before and after the 2016 election.

Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered the DOJ to open a grand jury investigation into the matter.

In a letter first reported by Fox News Digital, Bondi ordered an unidentified federal prosecutor to initiate legal proceedings. The prosecutor is expected to present department evidence to a grand jury to secure a potential indictment.

Two weeks ago, the DOJ confirmed it received a criminal referral from Gabbard, which included a memo titled “Intelligence Community suppression of intelligence showing ‘Russian and criminal actors did not impact’ the 2016 presidential election via cyberattacks on infrastructure.”

At a July press briefing, Gabbard asserted that former President Barack Obama was involved in the “manufacturing” of an intelligence assessment relating to reputed Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Gabbard confirmed she is asking the Department of Justice and the FBI to “investigate the criminal implications” of new evidence around “Russiagate,” including referring Obama for investigation.  

“The evidence that we have found, and that we have released, directly point to President Obama leading the manufacturing of this intelligence assessment,” she said. “There are multiple pieces of evidence and intelligence that confirm that fact.” 

Gabbard’s comments at the White House press briefing followed the release of what she is calling “new evidence” related to Russiagate.  

Under President Donald Trump’s direction, Gabbard announced the declassified House Intelligence Committee report “that exposes how the Obama administration manufactured the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment that they knew was false, promoting the LIE that Vladimir Putin and the Russian government helped President Trump win the 2016 election.” 

The newly released document, dated Sept. 18, 2020, details intelligence findings that Russia had little to no influence over the results of the 2016 presidential election.