Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., told Newsmax on Friday that he was disheartened but not surprised by recently released declassified documents that alleged a conspiracy at the top levels of the Obama administration to paralyze President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and his first term.
Last month, Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's director of national intelligence, released a trove of declassified documents that alleged former President Barack Obama directed the creation of a false intelligence assessment by James Clapper, his director of national intelligence, and John Brennan, his CIA director, in January 2017 that was used to delegitimize Trump's presidency after his victory over Hillary Clinton.
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday released a 29-page annex from special counsel John Durham's 2023 report that alleged a plan by Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign to falsely tie Trump to Russia.
"It's disheartening, but not surprising," Mullin told "Rob Schmitt Tonight." "A socialist takeover, or a socialist dictator, that's exactly what they do. They accuse everybody of doing exactly what they're doing. And that is exactly what's happening.
"We know the Democrat Party is moving toward a socialist regime, because AOC [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] and [Sen.] Bernie Sanders [are] leading the Democrat Party, and they're open socialists. So, we're not surprised because this playbook has been repeated multiple times. And every time, you have someone trying to take over country."
Mullin said what is most distressing is that Trump, in an interview with "60 Minutes" during the 2020 campaign, raised such allegations that his 2016 campaign was being spied upon, and correspondent Leslie Stahl replied that "there's no real evidence of that."
"When President Trump was saying, they've listened to my campaign, they've got my headquarters bugged, they've got Trump Tower bugged," Mullin said, "and they were saying, that's not true. That's not true. And he says, it's absolutely true. It's 100% true. And so, we believed him. I think his people believed him. And now '60 Minutes' once again is caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
"This sounds too much like Watergate, but this is exactly what this is. Remember who all got in trouble with Watergate? And my goodness, President Nixon resigned from office. Other people went to jail over it.
"And what's happening here is, I don't know if [former President Joe] Biden will be able to be held accountable because I don't think he can be held accountable.
"But those that colluded with this and put this false information out, who [were] obviously trying to deceive the American people, they were trying to inject themselves into the American people's election. And those that lied under oath. Those should be held accountable."
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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