Trump's "Russiagate" crusade enters fraught new territory

• For MAGA, the new focus on "Russiagate" offers a unifying reprieve — a return to familiar territory where Trump is the victim of a conspiracy, not the subject of one.
• It's a retribution campaign that's deeply personal to Trump's most loyal supporters, and one that could plunge the U.S. into uncharted territory if carried to its extreme conclusion.

Driving the news: The two most explosive stories in Washington are unfolding in parallel.

• Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard appeared at the White House podium Wednesday to unveil newly declassified documents that she claims expose a "treasonous conspiracy" by Obama-era intelligence officials.
• Asked whether she believes Obama himself committed crimes, Gabbard said she had referred the documents to the FBI.

Hours after Gabbard's press conference, the Wall Street Journal reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi had informed Trump in May that his name appeared multiple times in the Epstein files.

• Trump, who was friends with Epstein in the 90s and early 2000s, has not been accused of wrongdoing. The White House called the Journal story "fake news." It was later confirmed by CNN and the New York Times.
• Trump denied last week that Bondi told him his name appeared in the files, claiming that the documents were "made up" by Obama, former FBI director James Comey and others involved in the "Russia hoax."

Between the lines: Obama's office has dismissed Trump's claims of treason as "bizarre" and "outrageous." It's unclear how the former president could even be charged, given the Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity that Trump cited in his own criminal cases.

• Still, Bondi announced the formation of a Justice Department "Strike Force" on Wednesday to review Gabbard's material and assess possible legal action.

Zoom in: For a MAGA movement battered by three weeks of Epstein fallout, Gabbard's Russia disclosures are a lifeline on an issue that sits at the very core of its beliefs about the "Deep State."

• MAGA diehards see the moment as long-overdue vindication — not just of Trump, but of their own instincts, suspicions and years of being ignored and mocked as conspiracy theorists.
• "All those smug people are forced to sit there and hear Tulsi Gabbard, and that was a command performance today," Steve Bannon said on his "War Room" podcast Wednesday.

Reality check: The newly declassified report released by Gabbard originates from a 2017 House Intelligence Committee probe of the intelligence community's investigation into Russian election interference.

• The report, drafted and revised solely by Republicans, questioned the analytical process behind the conclusion that Russian President Vladimir Putin preferred Trump over Hillary Clinton — but it did not dispute the broader finding that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to hurt Clinton.
• It also offers no evidence of criminal conduct by Obama or his senior officials, despite Gabbard's claims of a "treasonous conspiracy."

The Senate Intelligence Committee, chaired at the time by now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio, affirmed in 2020 that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump and hurt Clinton.

• The bipartisan investigation spanned three years, reviewed millions of documents and conducted hundreds of interviews — ultimately backing the same assessment Gabbard now claims was "manufactured."
• Special counsel John Durham, appointed by Attorney General Bill Barr, harshly criticized the FBI's 2016 Russia probe but did not charge high-level officials or refute the conclusion that Russia favored Trump.

Zoom out: None of that matters to MAGA. On Wednesday, at least, the movement's core convictions couldn't be pushed to the fringe — they were being spoken from the White House podium, with the full authority of the U.S. government behind them.

• Even the most outlandish claims — like an assertion in the declassified report that Russia knew Clinton was being treated with "heavy tranquilizers," but chose not to leak it — were repeated without evidence, and without hesitation.
• "Beyond Russiagate, Hillary's health was a major narrative that was pushed by the influencers in 2016," right-wing podcaster Jack Posobiec told Axios. "This one goes all the way back to the beginning."

The bottom line: The full legal and political consequences of Gabbard's disclosures remain unclear, but the emotional payoff for MAGA is already taking hold.

• "The proof that conservatives always knew existed is finally, at long last, emerging," claimed Breitbart News Washington bureau chief Matt Boyle.
• Trump, reveling in his revenge, heaped praise on Gabbard at a reception at the White House Tuesday: "She's the hottest one in the room right now."