US Justice Department open probe into Obama officials over allegation of Russian interference in 2016 polls

However, it remains to be seen what could be the charges levelled in the probe and who would be charged in the ‘Russiagate’ investigation. Bondi has directed a prosecutor to present evidence to a grand jury after referrals from the Trump administration’s top intelligence official, Associated Press reported on Monday.

The Justice Department had said in July that they are going to form a strike force to assess claims made by the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard about “alleged weaponization of the US intelligence community.” Gabbard accused Obama and his national security team of a “years-long coup” against Trump while releasing a declassified report which the Democrats claimed was false.

Gabbard alleged that intelligence inputs about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election was politicised by the White House then led by the Obama administration to falsely link Trump with Russia.

Trump reacted to the revelations made by the National Intelligence director and accused Obama of “treason”. A spokesperson for Obama had called the claims “bizarre” and said “the allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.”

Democrats discredited the findings released by Gabbard and said nothing invalidated a US intelligence assessment in January 2017, which said that Russia had sought to damage Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign and boost Trump’s campaign three months prior to voting in 2016.

The assessment concluded that the actual impact of Russia’s meddling with 2016 polls were limited and had no evidence to show if Moscow’s efforts actually changed voting outcomes. However, Russia had denied it played any role during the 2016 US presidential elections.

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