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Attorney General Pam Bondi has directed federal prosecutors to convene a grand jury to investigate whether officials from the Obama administration committed federal crimes during their assessment of Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to a senior Trump administration official.
The move comes after National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, speaking at a White House press conference last month, accused senior Obama officials of orchestrating a “treasonous conspiracy” against Donald Trump. Gabbard said she had referred criminal allegations to the Department of Justice.
Critics, however, have condemned the probe. A former senior Justice Department official labeled it a “dangerous political stunt,” while a former national security official noted that multiple investigations — including bipartisan and Republican-led reviews — found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
“There’s no logical, rational basis for this,” said the former official, who requested anonymity.
While the specifics remain unclear, Bondi’s letter reportedly authorizes a federal prosecutor to begin presenting evidence to a grand jury, though it does not specify potential charges, targets of the investigation, or a timeline for proceedings. Fox News first reported the existence of Bondi’s letter.
The Department of Justice declined to comment on the matter.
Democrats have criticized the move as a political distraction, accusing the Trump administration of attempting to divert attention from the ongoing Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Conservative media figures have also criticized Trump, Bondi, and FBI Director Kash Patel for their handling of the Epstein case, pushing for more transparency.
Democratic lawmakers dismissed Gabbard’s allegations of a deep-state conspiracy as baseless and pointed to past investigations, such as the 2020 Senate Intelligence Committee’s bipartisan report, which found substantial evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 election. That report, signed by then-Acting Chairman Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), did not support claims of a coordinated conspiracy by Obama-era officials.
This new investigation is the latest in a series of efforts by Trump and his allies to reshape the narrative of the 2016 election. Critics argue these efforts aim to weaponize government institutions to target political opponents.
Trump and his supporters have long claimed that intelligence and law enforcement officials attempted to sabotage his presidency by exaggerating the extent of Russian interference and targeting his campaign aides with unjust investigations. Former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan, often singled out in these claims, have denied any misconduct. Comey’s attorney did not respond to requests for comment.
Although the U.S. intelligence community concluded that Russia sought to help Trump in the 2016 election, and special counsel Robert Mueller found no evidence of coordination between Trump’s team and the Kremlin, conspiracy theories have persisted — particularly among Trump loyalists.
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Special counsel John Durham, appointed by Trump to investigate the origins of the Russia probe, ultimately found no criminal conspiracy by Obama administration officials and did not file charges against any intelligence personnel involved in the 2017 assessment.
Despite these findings, Trump has repeatedly used campaign rhetoric and media imagery to portray his political adversaries — including Barack Obama — as criminals. Last month, Trump shared an AI-generated video depicting Obama being arrested by FBI agents in the Oval Office, continuing a pattern of inflammatory messaging designed to rally his base.
While past reviews have dismissed the notion of collusion between Obama-era officials and efforts to undermine Trump, the newly announced grand jury probe signals that the political battles over the 2016 election remain far from over.