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In a fiery escalation of rhetoric, former President Donald Trump on Tuesday denounced his predecessor, Barack Obama, of “treason,” alleging without proof that Obama spearheaded a conspiracy to falsely connect Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign to Russia and discredit his political future.
Although Trump has blasted Obama repeatedly, this was one of his most explicit charges of criminal activity since taking office. The allegations were made during comments in the Oval Office, with Trump citing recent remarks by Secretary of State Tulsi Gabbard. Gabbard had declassified intelligence reports on Friday that stated they revealed a “treasonous conspiracy” by senior Obama administration officials to undermine Trump’s campaign.
“They attempted to steal the election,” Trump asserted. “They did things that nobody’s ever conceived of, even in other nations. This was treason.”
An Obama spokesperson would not comment.
Trump’s assertions seem to be part of an attempt to divert increasing pressure from conservative base supporters calling for transparency in the Jeffrey Epstein case. Trump has re-posted manipulated videos on his Truth Social account over the last few days, including one manipulating the image of Obama being arrested in the Oval Office.
When questioned about Epstein’s case, Trump immediately turned to denouncing Obama and Hillary Clinton and asserting the real “witch hunt” was the probe of his campaign’s suspected collusions with Russia. “They were caught attempting to hack the election,” he claimed, proposing legal ramifications were long in coming.
The U.S. intelligence community in 2017 had held the view that Russia had sought to interfere with the 2016 election through disinformation efforts and cyberattacks designed to assist Trump and discredit Clinton. But it determined that there was no proof that Russian interference changed the ultimate vote result. An analysis in a 2020 bipartisan Senate report authored by then-Senator Marco Rubio also corroborated these findings.
Democrats quickly denounced Trump’s statement. Representative Jim Himes went on X, declaring Trump’s claims “a lie” and referencing the bipartisan Senate investigation that concluded there was no politicization of the intelligence report.
Gabbard’s accusations of Obama officials have also been rejected by Democrats as politically motivated and unfounded.
Trump’s recent remarks are just the latest in his decades-long trend of going after Obama, starting back in 2011 when he falsely accused Obama of not being born in America a conspiracy theory that compelled Obama to publish his birth certificate.
With no evidence in the form of facts and with Democrats demanding responsibility regarding misinformation, Trump’s claims are predicted to widen partisan fault lines as the political atmosphere heated up in the run-up to the next elections.
