Matt Taibbi: The Smoking Gun That Indicts Obama Is the December 10, 2016 Story In The NY Times And Washington Post

RealClear Politics ^ | 23 Jul, 2025 | Tim Hains, Megyn Kelly, Matt Taibi

[MtnClimber]

Megyn Kelly and Matt Taibbi look at the documents released by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard that President Trump says implicate President Obama in "treason."

MATT TAIBBI: I understand the confusion about this. I don't think that the report as it was released did a particularly good job of explaining what exactly the significance of these documents was. But they were very significant.

If you remember before the election, there was a story in The New York Times, for instance, on October 31st, saying, "FBI sees no link between Russia and Trump and the election." This was sort of what officials were telling people in the media. There were a few fringe attempts to kind of work the Steele dossier material—this full-on Trump-Russia conspiracy narrative—into the media, but for the most part, they didn't get there.

After the election, it was the same thing until this moment on December 9th, 2016, when Barack Obama convened this meeting, ordered a new intelligence assessment, and then immediately that same night, there were leaks from the administration telling people that there had been interference by Russia specifically to help Donald Trump.

MEGYN KELLY: Let me stop you right there. Let me just stop you right there.

So they call this meeting with all the Obama top people, and the new revised PDB has been issued yet—no revised Intelligence Community Assessment has happened yet. The last thing that happened in the intel community was, "We're going to tell them that there really was no significant Russian interference, at least insofar as election apparatus goes." And the FBI said, "We're out, we're going to issue our own." And then Clapper said, "All right, let's just pause everything." Then everybody gets together.

That night, right after that, before any revised intel happened—before anything happened—they began

---

TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: 201610; 20161031; 201612; 20161209; clinton; colorrevolution; coup; dni; domesticenemies; fusiongps; hitlery; matttaibbi; megynkelly; nytimes; obama; realclearpolitics; russiagate; timhains

[MtnClimber]

This is just a small element of the overall Color Revolution to jail Trump and his supporters.

[Red Badger]

From now on an ‘October Surprise’ will be met with a jaundiced eye......................

[Faith65]

Thanks.
Following...

[Kharis13]

All the evidence is there, and there’s more coming out every day. Alternative media is all over it, but it’s crickets with the mainstream media. We just need ONE honest lefty journalist to sniff a Pulitzer here.

[1Old Pro]

Brennan lied to Trey Gowdy under oath about the Steele dossier. Perhaps this will spark Trey to do some followup

[1Old Pro]

We just need ONE honest lefty journalist to sniff a Pulitzer here.

They aspire to Pulitzers for spreading DNC/CIA disinformation, like the steele dossier.

[Starboard]

And that, to you, you describe that as the smoking gun that shows there had been a decision to shift the entire messaging around this in a way they thought would undermine Trump.

**********

This is more like a smoking cannon.

[rbg81]

Of course, the fig leaf here is that the leak was “anonymous”. And the compliant MSM will never divulge who leaked it (unless it was a conservative).

[bigbob]

His explanation on the MK show is well worth watching on YouTube

[Thank You Rush]

Everything about that is tied in knots. Just like Whitewater, Web Hubbell, Susan McDougal, Vince Foster, Haiti, their Foundations and keep going. Anything and everything having to do with the Clintons is muddled, never to be uncovered OR understood!

Why couldn’t they just have one specialty - like Willie Sutton - robbing banks or Al Capone? Those guys were easy to read! Crime Inc., and never looked back.

[shelterguy]

“””Brennan lied to Trey Gowdy under oath about the Steele dossier. Perhaps this will spark Trey to do some followup””

Trey had his chance and did nothing.

[GeorgiaDawg32]

Any such journalist who dares to report, and investigate, this story better have their affairs in order. They’ll be Seth Riched in a heartbeat..

[1Old Pro]

Trey had his chance and did nothing.

His epitaph

[bigbob]

Not - it was thee FBI that triggered the meeting. Probably because Obama was already in cahoots with Comey

[Alberta's Child]

I think these stories are overlooking the actual chain of events that happened in late 2016.

The Obama team didn't convene in early December 2016 just because they decided to undermine the incoming Trump administration. There was a much more pressing -- and practical -- matter they had to deal with:

1. The surveillance of the Trump campaign began in the summer of 2016 (if not earlier). It had nothing to do with Russia and everything to do with simply spying on the Trump campaign for political reasons.

2. What triggered the December 2016 meeting referenced in this article was a development that took place a week or two earlier. This was the remarkable event where NSA head Mike Rogers -- against the orders of his superiors in the Obama administration -- traveled to Trump Tower in New York City and informed the Trump team about the surveillance that had been taking place for months up to that point. This meeting took place right around Thanksgiving in 2016, as I remember it.

3. The Trump transition team immediately vacated its headquarters in Trump Tower and moved its operations across the river to Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

4. Once that Trump Tower meeting took place, the Obama team knew the whole conspiracy and illegal surveillance was out in the open. They met in early December 2016 to do some major damage control. The whole "Russian election interference" angle to the story was fabricated after Election Day as an ex post facto narrative that would be used to retroactively justify the surveillance.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Obama and other high level officials ARE direct traitors. I and several others here gave been shouting this from the rooftops for a long time. If justice is not brought, there will eventually be a horrible civil war here, probably started by the left who know their evil deeds are about to be exposed.

[Sicon]

"Perhaps this will spark Trey to do some followup"

Oooh, Trey Gowdy's mad at me, Smithers! I'm so scared! Oooh, Trey Gowdy!"

[Fester Chugabrew]

...honest lefty journalist...

---

Oxymoron of the day.

[1Old Pro]

1. The surveillance of the Trump campaign began in the summer of 2016 (if not earlier). It had nothing to do with Russia and everything to do with simply spying on the Trump campaign for political reasons.

Watergate on steroids.