trying to rewrite the history of Russia's meddling in the 2016 election in accusing former

President Barack Obama of treason. The director of national intelligence, Telsie Gabbard,

alleged Obama and his deputies engaged in a, quote, seditious conspiracy by manufacturing

a false assessment that Russia meddled in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump's campaign.

To be very clear, these allegations are demonstrably false and so ridiculous that it led to a rare, rare rebuke from former President Obama's office,

calling the claim, quote, outrageous, bizarre, and quote, a weak attempt at distraction.

And former CIA official tells NBC News, Gabbard and the White House are lying about

intel on Russian interference in 2016. Susan Miller, a retired CIA officer who helped lead

the team that produced the report about Russia's actions during the 2016 campaign told NBC News it was based on credible information that showed Moscow sought to help Trump with the election, but that there was no sign of a conspiracy between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign.

The White House and the administration are promising, it seems, to use the full weight and power of the government to try and paint Barack Obama and many others as treasonous to this country.

And to be clear, unless it's changed, being guilty of treason is punishable by death in this country.

That's what happens if you're found guilty of treason.

This is a moment that is shocking.

We shouldn't be surprised, but I am still shocked.

Yeah, well, I think it's a real mark of desperation that they have resurrected an eight-and-a-half-year-old

intelligence community assessment,

claiming that President Obama and national security officials were involved in this conspiracy,

a cabal that was trying to undermine President-elect Trump.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

There have been countless reviews of the assessment that's been done

over the years in terms of the John Durham investigation, the Mueller investigation, the bipartisan

Senate Intelligence Committee review. Every reporter who's covered it. Basically validated and

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