WASHINGTON, D.C.: U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has caused a significant stir by demanding that former President Barack Obama and several of his top national security officials be prosecuted. She accuses them of trying to wrongly discredit Donald Trump's 2016 election win.

In a press statement, Gabbard claimed that Obama and his team carried out an extended plan to remove Trump by creating false intelligence reports that said Russia had interfered in the election. At the center of her claim is the Steele dossier—a report made by former British spy Christopher Steele—which Gabbard says the Obama administration used even though they knew it was unreliable.

She said: "The documents we are sharing today clearly show that top government officials tried to go against the will of the American people and remove a legally elected president. Everyone involved must be fully investigated and punished by law."

Gabbard, who used to be a Democratic congresswoman and has often criticized U.S. foreign policy, said she has given key documents to the Department of Justice. These include an older, partly censored intelligence report on 2016 election cyber threats and several memos, including ones written by James Clapper, who was Obama's intelligence chief.

Gabbard named Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan, Secretary of State John Kerry, National Security Adviser Susan Rice, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and Obama himself as part of what she calls a conspiracy.

Her claims are bringing fresh attention to the beginnings of the Russia investigation—something Trump has consistently called a "hoax." Gabbard's report says earlier intelligence did not expect Russian interference, but that later leaks and news reports changed the narrative after Trump won.

One memo from December 9, 2016, says some intelligence officials gave false or misleading information to the media to make it look like Russia had a substantial effect on the election. Gabbard claims that earlier reports actually doubted Russia's ability or intent to hack the election.

She also says that the final public Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA), released on January 6, 2017, partly relied on the Steele dossier to support the idea that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted Trump to beat Hillary Clinton.

The Steele dossier, which included some unproven claims about Trump and Russia, helped launch Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Mueller's report later confirmed that Russia did interfere in the election in a significant way, but did not find enough proof that Trump's team worked with Moscow.

Gabbard's appointment as intelligence chief was controversial. She had no background in intelligence, and some of her past comments seemed supportive of Russia. Critics point to her statements about Vladimir Putin and her views on the war in Ukraine as signs she shares some of the Kremlin's ideas.

Gabbard is now focusing again on how the Russia investigation began. This comes at a time when Trump and his allies are also pushing to reveal more documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges. Trump has accused several Obama-era officials—including James Comey and Joe Biden—of using the Russia probe and other issues to attack him and cover up their own actions.