While Attorney General Pam Bondi was being scrutinised for contradicting herself regarding the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, President Trump was handed an excellent diversion when his National Intelligence Director, Tulsi Gabbard, released documents about the so-called “Russia Hoax”. Supposedly, the documents released by Tulsi Gabbard are evidence that President Barack Obama concocted a conspiracy against President Trump to falsely accuse President Trump of numerous allegations including having his political campaign for the US presidency supported and funded by Russia.
President Donald Trump ran for US President in 2016 against then Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. Donald Trump won the election and during his time as US President, 34 individuals and 3 companies were charged with charges relating to Russian interference in the 2016 election. The Robert Mueller investigation officially began on May 17, 2017, when then, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller as Special Counsel for the US Department of Justice. Rod Rosenstein was appointed as Deputy Attorney General of the United States by President Donald Trump.
The Mueller investigation led in total to eight convictions. One of the most significant convictions was that of Paul Manaforte who was charged with tax and bank fraud. Paul Manaforte served as a strong link between Trump’s political campaign and the Russian intelligence and security services via his Russian contact Konstantin Kilimnik. Manaforte also laundered up to $30 million that he had received from the pro-Russian Ukrainian politician, Viktor Yanukovych and his associates. The others who were convicted included Rick Gates, Michael Flynn, Michael Cohen, Roger Stone, George Papadopoulos, Alex van der Zwaan and Richard Pinedo.
Mueller’s investigation had concluded that, “The Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion.” At the same time, the investigation had concluded that, “Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”.
Although Mueller could indict Trump’s associates over a series of crimes including tax evasion and lying to the FBI, he could not find evidence of direct links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign. Effectively, the Mueller investigation absolved Donald Trump of the very thing he now claims he was persecuted for. However, the investigation also acknowledged quite clearly that Donald Trump was supported by the Russians in his campaign efforts and Trump welcomed this Russian support.
The 2016 US presidential election was historically unprecedented, as it marked the first time the Russian government openly and actively backed a presidential nominee from one of the main political parties, with its support for Donald Trump being both clear and public. It was the first time we experienced the Russian bots spreading MAGA propaganda online mainly thanks to Yevgeny Prigozhin’s troll farms. It was also the first time a major cyberattack was carried out against a US political party by a foreign state, when Russia hacked the emails of the Democratic National Committee and passed the data to WikiLeaks. Trump didn’t consider this interference as a threat to US national security: he welcomed it and even publicly encouraged the Russians to release Hilary Clinton’s emails.
What’s strange about the “Russia hoax” story crafted by Tulsi Gabbard is that it does not only supposedly absolve President Trump of his illicit connections with Russia: Mueller already did that. Supposedly, Tulsi Gabbard is publishing evidence that Russia didn’t interfere in the US presidential election of 2016 and neither did Russia conduct any cyber-attacks. Gabbard has shown no evidence of her claims. Instead, Tulsi Gabbard is distorting facts and deliberately perpetuating lies by saying that Russia did not interfere in the 2016 elections due to the fact that Russia did not hack the electronic election infrastructure system. Tulsi Gabbard’s total nonsense comes straight out of a Russian disinformation book.
Tulsi Gabbard is known for her being a major critic of US foreign policy. Her statements in favour of Russia and against Ukraine throughout Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earned her a lot of praise by the Russian media. She also visited Bashar al-Assad in secret while he was battling his own people in 2017. Repeatedly, she attacked what she described as the “Deep State,” referring to government officials and institutions that, in her view, support US foreign intervention. She is the perfect Russian asset in US politics: someone who is ready to support embattled dictators and oppose foreign military action that can deter or stop the warring adventures of dictators. Clearly, Tulsi Gabbard supports a weakened foreign military posture, however she is also a serious threat to US national security.
Tulsi Gabbard’s war against the “Deep State” and her peddling of the “Russian hoax” risk sending a deep chilling effect among US officials and service members with the intelligence and security entities. This chilling effect may prevent officials from investigating Russian threats to US national security, effectively giving the Russian government more leeway to penetrate within US state and private institutions. In addition, with Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence, the Russians have greater leeway to exert their sophisticated disinformation campaigns in US politics. Not to mention the risk of US intelligence and security services being infiltrated by Russian sympathisers or worse, Russian spies. What Tulsi Gabbard is doing may also escalate to a witch hunt. We have already reached a stage where those within the security and intelligence services investigating Russian threats fear political retribution.
Tulsi Gabbard has a very large axe to grind against the Democrats, but especially against Hilary Clinton which may explain her eventual pro-Russian turn. In 2016 she resigned as Vice-Chair of the Democratic National Committee to support Bernie Sanders for the Democrat Presidential nomination. Hilary Clinton and the Democratic leadership fought very aggressively against Bernie Sanders and this political conflicted coincided with the Russian cyber-attack against the Democratic National Convention. In 2019 Hilary Clinton accused her of being groomed by the Russians, an accusation Gabbard denied. Then, in 2020, Gabbard claimed she was discriminated against by the Democratic Party, which sidelined her during the primaries that were eventually won by Joe Biden.
Those of us who remember Tulsi Gabbard in her Bernie days recall her as a peace advocate standing firm against the neocon warmongers: a stance that, at the time, was a legitimate and popular response to the US invasion of Iraq. Yet as the years have passed and the world has changed, Gabbard’s personal resentment and spite have transformed her into the very thing she once opposed: an enabler and servant of today’s greatest warmonger: Russia itself.
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