Ex-CIA Officer Hits Back at Trump Intelligence Chief Over Obama 'Treason' Claim

A former CIA officer has said Tulsi Gabbard, the US director of national intelligence, is ignorant of the practices of espionage after she accused Barack Obama and his national security team of "treasonous conspiracy" against Donald Trump.

- Robert Tait

Susan Miller, who helped lead intelligence assessments over alleged Russia interference in the 2016 presidential election, said Gabbard's allegations were based on false statements and basic misrepresentations of discoveries.

Gabbard has accused Obama and his former national security officials of "manufacturing" intelligence to make it appear that Vladimir Putin had intervened on Trump's side when they knew it was untrue.

The goal, she insisted, was to make Trump's election win appear illegitimate, thus laying the basis of a "years-long coup against him".

She has passed the matter to Pam Bondi, the attorney general, who last week announced a justice department "strike force" into the affair.

Gabbard has called for criminal prosecutions against officials involved, including Obama himself.

Obama last week denounced the allegations as "outrageous and ridiculous", and part of an attempt to distract attention from the Jeffrey Epstein files, in which Trump's name reportedly appears.

In an interview, Miller - who was the CIA's head of counter-intelligence at the time but was not named by Gabbard - questioned how well Gabbard, who has never worked in intelligence or served on intelligence-related committees, grasped intelligence matters.