WASHINGTON

US Attorney General Pam Bondi directed staff Monday to open a grand jury investigation into allegations put forward by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard that former officials sought to link President Donald Trump to Russia, according to a recently published report.

Bondi personally ordered an unnamed prosecutor to begin the legal process, and that individual is expected to present evidence to the grand jury, Fox News reported, citing a letter from Bondi that it reviewed.

The grand jury could then grant an indictment against individuals involved in the alleged conspiracy or dismiss potential charges.

The Justice Department confirmed last month that it had received a criminal referral from Gabbard. The announcement came after the intelligence chief accused former President Barack Obama of having "directed" the manipulation of intelligence that suggested Russia sought to intervene in the 2016 presidential election on Trump's behalf.

"There is irrefutable evidence that details how President Obama and his national security team directed the creation of an intelligence community assessment that they knew was false," Gabbard told reporters at the White House on July 23.

"They knew it would promote this contrived narrative that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help President Trump win, selling it to the American people as though it were true. It wasn't," she added.

Trump also accused Obama, the focus of much of the president's ire during his first term, of orchestrating a "coup" against him, urging authorities to “go after” his predecessor.

“The witch hunt that you should be talking about is they caught President Obama," he said. "What they did to this country...starting in 2016 but...going up to 2020...they tried to rig the election, and they got caught, and there should be very severe consequences for that."

Obama's office called Trump's claims “bizarre…outrageous” and a "ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction." The former president rejected claims that he manipulated US intelligence.

The accusations of wrongdoing by Obama were made as Trump found himself in a firestorm over the Justice Department's refusal to release documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The US intelligence community concluded in 2017 that "Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election" that sought to "undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary (of State Hillary) Clinton (Trump’s electoral opponent), and harm her electability and potential presidency."

"We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump. We have high confidence in these judgments," the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a declassified report released Jan. 6 of that year.

The allegations do not appear to conflict with the determination reached by the intelligence community but take issue with how it was reached.

Gabbard acknowledged that Russia thought Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton "would win the election" but said the Kremlin withheld "the most damning" information it had on the former secretary of state.

"They had plans to release it just prior to her inauguration, to again sow discord and chaos in America," she said.