Latest news with #Russianinterference
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tulsi Gabbard openly accuses Obama of longstanding effort to overthrow Trump in coup
Tulsi Gabbard has openly accused the Obama administration of launching a 'years-long coup' against President Donald Trump in an attempt to subvert his 2016 election win. Gabbard released declassified emails Friday and claimed that they reveal a 'treasonous conspiracy' committed by former President Barack Obama and his officials over the investigation surrounding Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump pushed the 'conspiracy' over the weekend on Truth Social by sharing an interview Gabbard gave Fox News on the allegations. He also congratulated Gabbard in a separate post Saturday. 'Their goal was to subvert the will of the American people and enact what was essentially a years-long coup with the objective of trying to usurp the President from fulfilling the mandate bestowed upon him by the American people,' Gabbard said of the Obama administration. Democrats have blasted the accusation as an attempt to 'change the subject' from the Trump administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. The president has found himself on the receiving end of MAGA's fury over the Justice Department's decision not to release any further evidence in the convicted pedophile's case. Trump has instructed his embattled Attorney General Pam Bondi to release some of the files relating to grand jury testimony, subject to court approval. Gabbard has called for the prosecution of Obama and former U.S. national security officials, accusing them of 'manufacturing intelligence' to suggest that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, despite evidence proving otherwise, she claimed. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan, and former FBI Director James Comey were cited in the DNI memo. Trump has claimed for years that the investigation into Russian interference was a 'hoax.' The intelligence community has long concluded that Russia attempted to influence the 2016 election through a social media campaign, but the Mueller investigation couldn't prove those operators had ties to the Trump campaign. Democratic Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut slammed Gabbard's claims as 'utter nonsense.' 'Odd that then CIA Director Pompeo didn't say any of this. Or that none of the six DNIs in Trump's first term said any of it,' Himes responded in a post on X. 'Once again, @DNIGabbard is trashing her own people in an attempt to regain Trump's favor or to distract from the Epstein scandal. Probably both.' He added, 'No one alleges that the Russians did technical hacks of voting technology. But ALL of the investigations, including the Senate bipartisan investigation, found that the Russians sought to influence the 2016 election in Trump's favor.' Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, accused Gabbard of 'weaponizing' her position as Trump's director of national intelligence. 'It is sadly not surprising that DNI Gabbard, who promised to depoliticize the intelligence community, is once again weaponizing her position to amplify the president's election conspiracy theories,' Warner said in a post on X. 'It is appalling to hear DNI Gabbard accuse her own IC workforce of committing a 'treasonous conspiracy' when she was unwilling to label Edward Snowden a traitor.' Obama has not yet responded to Gabbard's claims.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Human rights ‘not breached over election interference probe refusal'
The UK government did not breach human rights laws by refusing to order an independent investigation into Russian interference in elections. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found there was no breach of measures aimed at ensuring free and fair elections after a long-running legal action backed by three former MPs. The Strasbourg court acknowledged there was evidence of a 'significant and ongoing threat' to the UK's democratic processes from Vladimir Putin's country, but said Westminster had taken action to respond to the danger. Judgment Bradshaw and Others v. the United Kingdom – Alleged interference by Russia in UK elections – the UK Government's response did not violate the right to free electionshttps:// #CEDH #ECHRpress — ECHR CEDH (@ECHR_CEDH) July 22, 2025 The case was lodged at the ECtHR in 2022 by three then-MPs, Labour's Sir Ben Bradshaw, the Green Party's Caroline Lucas and the SNP's Alyn Smith, after applications for a judicial review of Boris Johnson's decision not to order an investigation into Russian activities were declined by domestic courts. In a judgment published on Tuesday, the court ruled that the UK government's response did not violate the right to free elections. The judgment said: 'While the Court does not underestimate the threat posed by the spreading of disinformation and the running of 'influence campaigns', their nature is nevertheless such that it is difficult to assess accurately the impact that they may have on individual voters and, by extension, on the outcome of a given election.' There was also a risk to freedom of expression if there were 'knee-jerk reactions' to debate during an election contest. 'There is a very fine line between addressing the dangers of disinformation and outright censorship,' the judgment said. Any actions taken by states 'to counter the risk of foreign election interference through the dissemination of disinformation and the running of influence campaigns' would have to be balanced against the right to freedom of expression under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. 'Therefore, while states should not remain passive when faced with evidence that their democratic processes are under threat they must be accorded a wide margin of appreciation in the choice of means to be adopted in order to counter such threats,' the judgment said. 'In the court's view, the United Kingdom's response to the threat of Russian election interference did not fall outside the wide margin of appreciation afforded to it in this area.' The case followed reports from the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee and the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) which looked at alleged Russian disinformation campaigns, including during the 2016 Brexit referendum. The court noted that 'there were undoubtedly shortcomings in the Government's initial response' to the Russian threat but there were 'thorough and independent investigations' by the ISC and the DCMS committee.. The judgment also noted that following the publication of the ISC report in 2020 there had been new laws passed to help address the risk: the Elections Act 2022, the National Security Act 2023 ('the NSA 2023') and the Online Safety Act 2023. Following the judgment, Ms Lucas said: 'It's hugely significant that the court has found in favour of our case that foreign interference is a threat to our right to free and fair elections and that they recognise there will be cases when states do have a duty to investigate. 'And while it's clearly disappointing that they found that the Government had done enough, I've no doubt that this will continue to be contested. 'The bottom line is that we still cannot be assured that our democratic system is robust against foreign interference – and for as long as that is the case, we will continue to explore all possible avenues for remedy.' Tessa Gregory, a partner at Leigh Day – the law firm which represented the three former MPs, said: 'In an important judgment, which will have far-reaching implications, the court has accepted, contrary to the UK's submissions, that in order to safeguard citizens' right to free and fair elections, states will in certain circumstances have to take positive action against foreign interference in electoral processes including by investigating credible allegations. 'Our clients continue to think the UK has fallen short of protecting our democracy and are considering next steps in relation to the court's conclusion that there has been no violation of their right to free and fair elections.'
The Independent
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Tulsi Gabbard openly accuses Obama of longstanding effort to overthrow Trump in coup
Tulsi Gabbard has openly accused the Obama administration of launching a 'years-long coup' against President Donald Trump in an attempt to subvert his 2016 election win. Gabbard released declassified emails Friday and claimed that they reveal a 'treasonous conspiracy' committed by former President Barack Obama and his officials over the investigation surrounding Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump pushed the 'conspiracy' over the weekend on Truth Social by sharing an interview Gabbard gave Fox News on the allegations. He also congratulated Gabbard in a separate post Saturday. 'Their goal was to subvert the will of the American people and enact what was essentially a years-long coup with the objective of trying to usurp the President from fulfilling the mandate bestowed upon him by the American people,' Gabbard said of the Obama administration. Democrats have blasted the accusation as an attempt to 'change the subject' from the Trump administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. The president has found himself on the receiving end of MAGA's fury over the Justice Department's decision not to release any further evidence in the convicted pedophile's case. Trump has instructed his embattled Attorney General Pam Bondi to release some of the files relating to grand jury testimony, subject to court approval. Gabbard has called for the prosecution of Obama and former U.S. national security officials, accusing them of 'manufacturing intelligence' to suggest that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, despite evidence proving otherwise, she claimed. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan, and former FBI Director James Comey were cited in the DNI memo. Trump has claimed for years that the investigation into Russian interference was a 'hoax.' The intelligence community has long concluded that Russia attempted to influence the 2016 election through a social media campaign, but the Mueller investigation couldn't prove those operators had ties to the Trump campaign. Democratic Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut slammed Gabbard's claims as 'utter nonsense.' 'Odd that then CIA Director Pompeo didn't say any of this. Or that none of the six DNIs in Trump's first term said any of it,' Himes responded in a post on X. 'Once again, @DNIGabbard is trashing her own people in an attempt to regain Trump's favor or to distract from the Epstein scandal. Probably both.' He added, 'No one alleges that the Russians did technical hacks of voting technology. But ALL of the investigations, including the Senate bipartisan investigation, found that the Russians sought to influence the 2016 election in Trump's favor.' Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, accused Gabbard of 'weaponizing' her position as Trump's director of national intelligence. 'It is sadly not surprising that DNI Gabbard, who promised to depoliticize the intelligence community, is once again weaponizing her position to amplify the president's election conspiracy theories,' Warner said in a post on X. 'It is appalling to hear DNI Gabbard accuse her own IC workforce of committing a 'treasonous conspiracy' when she was unwilling to label Edward Snowden a traitor.' Obama has not yet responded to Gabbard's claims.
