ABC News’ chief legal analyst Dan Abrams is calling out Tulsi Gabbard — and he’s not holding back.
On his new YouTube show, Abrams tore into Gabbard’s claim that former President Barack Obama was involved in a “seditious conspiracy” tied to the 2016 Trump-Russia investigation. Gabbard, now Director of National Intelligence, has accused Obama of orchestrating a politically motivated plan to investigate Trump. Abrams says her story falls apart fast under scrutiny.
“This isn’t one of them. This is so dishonest,” Abrams said, making clear he’s no stranger to criticizing the Obama or Biden administrations. “There are a lot of things out there that you can criticize… and I’ve done it many times.”
Gabbard has been pushing her claims on Fox News and other right-wing platforms, calling the supposed plot “seditious conspiracy” and referring it to the Department of Justice. But Abrams says that’s a wild distortion of what actually happened.
“She is calling for prosecution,” Abrams explained. “And I’m going to actually dig into what they’re alleging, because what they are alleging isn’t just not seditious conspiracy — it’s not even wrongdoing.”
He walked through the documents behind Gabbard’s claims, showing they don’t support her accusations at all. He said right-wing media is trying to spin newly released intel as proof of some massive scandal, but it doesn’t hold up.
“So if you are following right-wing media, you would think there is a major scandal going on with regard to the Obama administration and the intel on Russia in 2016,” Abrams said. “That there has been a new release of documents that potentially could lead to indictments, all right? … This is so incredibly dishonest.”
The heart of the issue, according to Abrams, is a basic misunderstanding — or misrepresentation — of the facts. The Obama administration assessed that Russia tried to interfere with the 2016 election, but not by hacking voting machines. Instead, it was through leaking documents and spreading disinformation online — which did happen and has been proven.
“Separate out the allegation of someone hacking into election infrastructure, which no administration official claimed they successfully did, versus efforts by the Russians to leak documents, which they did,” Abrams explained. “DNC stuff. Efforts to impact the election by swaying public opinion, which they did.”
That’s the real story, Abrams said. Not a “coup,” not “treason,” not some illegal plot against Trump.
“Don’t get fooled!” he warned viewers. Gabbard’s conspiracy theory, he said, is based on twisting facts and creating outrage over something that never happened.
In Abrams’ words, this isn’t a bombshell. “It’s not even wrongdoing.”
Watch the video below:
