JUST IN: DOJ Launches Russiagate ‘Strike Force’ As Obama Probe Heats Up

The U.S. Justice Department has launched a “strike force” to investigate whether enough evidence exists to charge former President Barack Obama over his alleged involvement in the Russiagate hoax, according to insiders close to the newly formed group.

Reviewing declassified documents released Wednesday will be the strike force’s first task and comes after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard accused the 44th president of “weaponizing” the U.S. intelligence community to damage President Donald Trump’s election prospects.

Much of the government’s investigation is believed to have taken place in the months following Trump’s 2016 election win.

Some of the intelligence contained in the report was “manufactured” by top officials in the outgoing Obama administration, the DOJ stated in announcing the launch of the strike force. Another official told Fox News the DOJ takes the allegations against Obama with “the utmost seriousness.”

Another insider told the outlet that the National Security Division of the DOJ will “likely be involved in the investigation” and that no lead is being left off the table.

“The Department of Justice is proud to work with my friend Director Gabbard, and we are grateful for her partnership in delivering accountability for the American people,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a release.

“We will investigate these troubling disclosures fully and leave no stone unturned to deliver justice,” she said.

Together, prosecutors and U.S. intelligence investigators will work to identify “the worst offenders” who “engaged in fraudulent activities, including, chiefly, health care fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, money laundering offenses, false statements offenses,” and more, according to the DOJ.

For weeks, a slew of new evidence in the government’s “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation has been building.

Earlier in July, CIA Director John Ratcliffe released the results of his investigation into the U.S. intelligence community, which concluded in 2016 that President Trump benefited from Russian interference in the election. Among the most damning finds were that former CIA Director John Brennan siloed the creation of a report from other intelligence agencies in order to include the discredited Steele dossier and prevent other career bureaucrats under his control from voicing their doubts about Russia.

The 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment was the subject of “lessons learned” released by Ratcliffe, which now undergird the Trump administration’s potential for bringing criminal charges against Brennan, former FBI Director James Comey, and perhaps even Obama.

The review found that the ICA was compiled with “procedural anomalies,” including a rush to put the document together before Trump took office.

Furthermore, when evidence suggesting Russia played little or no role in the election was ready for inclusion in a Presidential Daily Briefing, aides to Obama removed it. That information would have also been presented to Trump, who was president-elect.