‘Hottest in the Room’: Trump Lauds Tulsi Gabbard, Repeats Debunked 2016 Election Claims

U.S. President Donald Trump praised Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard at a White House event, saying she had uncovered key evidence about the 2016 election. Trump called her "the hottest one in the room" and credited her with releasing a report he claims proves former President Barack Obama tried to rig the election.

Pointing toward Gabbard, Trump said, "Oh, where's Tulsi? She's, like, hotter than everybody. She has all the documents. She found out that Barack Hussein Obama led a group of people and they cheated in the elections. They cheated without question."

Trump also repeated his view that the 2016 election "was a big victory" and "shouldn't have been a loss," referring to the fact that he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton but still won the presidency through the Electoral College.

According to Trump, Gabbard's intelligence report includes documents he says show that Obama, along with Hillary Clinton, former FBI Director James Comey, and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, plotted to damage his campaign. None of them have been charged with any crime related to the Russia investigation.

Several investigations-including one by a Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee-have found that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump. Gabbard's report uses old Obama-era communications and argues that because no votes were changed, the interference claims were exaggerated. Intelligence experts have criticized this logic, saying it wrongly tries to downplay the real impact of foreign interference.

Trump said Gabbard told him, "You've seen nothing yet," and praised her for her work.

In response, former President Obama's spokesperson Patrick Rodenbush dismissed Trump's comments. "These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction," he said.