EXCLUSIVE: Attorney General Pam Bondi directed her staff Monday to act on the criminal referral from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard related to the alleged conspiracy to tie President Donald Trump to Russia, and the Department of Justice is now opening a grand jury investigation into the matter, Fox News Digital has learned. -Bondi ordered an unnamed federal prosecutor to initiate legal proceedings, and the prosecutor is expected to present department evidence to a grand jury to secure a potential indictment, according to a letter from Bondi reviewed by Fox News Digital and a source familiar with the investigation. -- The revelation that the DOJ is moving forward with a grand jury probe comes after Gabbard declassified intelligence in July that shed new light on the Obama administration’s determination that Russia sought to help Trump in the 2016 election. Former President Barack Obama and his intelligence officials promoted a "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," Gabbard said during a press briefing of the intelligence. Among the declassified material was a meeting record revealing how Obama requested his deputies prepare an intelligence assessment in December 2016, after Trump had won the election, that detailed the "tools Moscow used and actions it took to influence the 2016 election." That intelligence assessment stressed that Russia's actions did not affect the outcome of the election but rather were intended to sow distrust in the democratic process. -- https://www.foxnews.com/politics/doj-launching-grand-jury-investigation-russiagate-conspiracy-allegations-source