Former U.S. President Barack Obama and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speak at an event in Washington, D.C. on January 9, 2025. Ricky Carioti/Pool via REUTERS
Recent events are generating what could be the largest political scandal in American history, at least much larger than Watergate. The scandal was ignited on July 23 when Tulsi Gabbard brought attention to a House Intelligence Committee report offered by Republicans in 2017. This report raises significant questions about the claims of the Obama administration regarding a "secret deal" of mutual agreement between Putin and Trump during the 2016 presidential election. It appears that the current Director of National Intelligence, likely in coordination with those involved in the January 6 insurrection, has strong evidence here - and perhaps testimony from a whistleblower who is fully aware of the details of the alleged misconduct.
In particular, the accusation is that the Obama administration - callable treasonous of conspiring top officials (such as John Brennan of the CIA and Jim Comey, the FBI): - conspired to commit the hoax/crime of "Russian collusion" to delegitimize Trump's first presidency.
The saga began with the Steele dossier that was put together in late 2016. It was designed to contain unproven allegations of collusion between Trump and Russia. It was known to be sketchy even then. The matter of somehow Russian interference benefitting Trump had not been a talking point during the campaign, mainly because the Democrats presumed Clinton would win, and it was, for them, a non-issue.
After Trump's surprising victory, the Obama administration allegedly launched a campaign of smears beginning December 8, 2016. The hope was to create a narrative of secret collusion that thwarted American democracy. While it has been almost seven years, and does not matter in the end, the allegations created a Hamlet-esque portrayal of imaginary facts put into almost nightly reporting by a famous media league covering the confusion, conspiracy theories, and investigating reports that tended or bent evidence against Trump, sometimes awarding Pulitzer Prizes, later choosing to chastise and re-purpose the American public's view of Trump as a person, and as the President of the United States.
In any case, the heart of the matter is that those involved in the conspiracy at large knew there were no facts of Russian interference, with evidence that swayed an election for Trump as President. Nevertheless, they chose to go along with the incredible farce that did irreparable harm to the political system in the U.S.
Compared to the misleading claims about Trump, hidden folders on Hillary Clinton’s mental stability seem insignificant. The 2019 Mueller Report, which revealed that Trump was not finding collusion with Russia, highlighted this entire episode as a politically motivated attack that destroyed trust in government.
As the speculation turns to whether Obama himself will face legal consequences and with Republican lawmakers pursuing the inquiry aggressively, the expectation for many Americans is dramatic criminal indictments. The Justice Department has created a special team to investigate whether intelligence agencies may have been politically weaponized.
The next step falls on U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. This scandal is just beginning but is expected to be the political face-off of the decade and will likely destroy everything left of the Democratic establishment.
References:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/us/politics/gabbard-obama-trump-russia.html
https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/press-releases-2025/4086-pr-15-25
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/us/politics/trump-russia-obama-gabbard.html