The U.S. Department of Justice has formed a “strike force” to investigate the evidence made public by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard regarding former President Barack Obama and his top national security and intelligence officials’ alleged involvement in the origins of the Trump-Russia collusion narrative.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday evening the formation of a “strike force” to investigate potential next legal steps resulting from Gabbard’s recent declassification of records indicating that Obama administration officials “manufactured” intelligence to create the narrative that then-candidate Donald Trump was colluding with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election.
A source close to the strike squad told Fox News Digital that everything is being assessed and that no major leads are off the table. The Justice Department’s National Security Division would “likely be involved in the investigation.”
According to Justice Department officials, the DOJ regards the alleged weaponization of the intelligence community “with the utmost seriousness.”
“The Department of Justice is proud to work with my friend Director Gabbard and we are grateful for her partnership in delivering accountability for the American people. We will investigate these troubling disclosures fully and leave no stone unturned to deliver justice,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said.
The strike force is made up of teams of investigators and prosecutors who focus on “the worst offenders engaged in fraudulent activities, including, chiefly, health care fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, money laundering offenses, false statements offenses,” and more, according to the DOJ.
The establishment of the strike group follows a series of events regarding the genesis of the Trump-Russia inquiry.
Earlier in July, CIA Director John Ratcliffe made a criminal referral to the FBI for former CIA Director John Brennan.
The referral came after Ratcliffe released a “lessons learned” analysis of the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA). According to the 2017 ICA, Russia attempted to influence the 2016 presidential election in favor of then-candidate Trump. However, the study discovered that the process of establishing the ICA was hurried, with “procedural anomalies,” and that personnel deviated from intelligence guidelines.
The committee also found that the “decision by agency heads to include the Steele Dossier in the ICA ran counter to fundamental tradecraft principles and ultimately undermined the credibility of a key judgment.”
The dossier, an anti-Trump document packed with unconfirmed and completely incorrect assertions commissioned by Fusion GPS and funded by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the DNC, has been extensively rejected. The study is the first time that career CIA officers have admitted the politicization of the ICA-writing process, notably by Obama-era political appointees.
Records disclosed as part of the assessment indicated that Brennan did, in fact, advocate for the dossier’s inclusion in the 2017 ICA.
FBI Director Kash Patel accepted the criminal referral and launched an investigation against Brennan.
Patel also launched a criminal probe into former FBI Director James Comey.
The complete nature of the criminal investigations into Brennan and Comey is unknown, but two people described the FBI’s assessment of the duo’s meetings as a “conspiracy,” which may open up a plethora of prosecuting options.
Records disclosed as part of the assessment indicated that Brennan did, in fact, advocate for the dossier’s inclusion in the 2017 ICA.
FBI Director Kash Patel accepted the criminal referral and launched an investigation against Brennan.
Patel also launched a criminal probe into former FBI Director James Comey.
The complete nature of the criminal investigations into Brennan and Comey is unknown, but two people described the FBI’s assessment of the duo’s meetings as a “conspiracy,” which may open up a plethora of prosecuting options.
The DOJ will be “aggressively investigating and probing” all of the evidence.