By: Chioma Madonna Ndukwu
Former U.S. President Donald Trump has accused Barack Obama of committing treason and demanded his prosecution over a recent report alleging that Obama-era officials fabricated intelligence related to Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The claims stem from a report released last Friday, which prompted Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to send criminal referrals to the Justice Department. Gabbard alleges that Obama and his top aides orchestrated a plan to manufacture evidence in order to trigger a prolonged investigation aimed at destabilizing Trump’s presidency.
Describing the alleged effort as a “treasonous conspiracy,” Gabbard’s assertions clash with the findings of four separate investigations conducted between 2019 and 2023 — including criminal, counterintelligence, and oversight probes — all of which concluded that Russia did interfere in the election, with the intention of boosting Trump’s chances.
Asked during a White House press conference with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos whom he believed should be prosecuted based on the report, Trump responded bluntly: “It would be President Obama. He started it.” Trump also implicated other key figures from the former administration, including then-Vice President Joe Biden, former FBI Director James Comey, ex-DNI Director James Clapper, and former CIA Director John Brennan. But he said Obama was the “leader of the gang.”
Earlier in the week, Trump faced backlash for posting an AI-generated video falsely showing Obama being arrested — a move widely criticized as inflammatory.
Trump has long insisted that the investigations into his campaign’s alleged ties to Russian operatives were politically motivated. However, a 2020 bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report — led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio, now Secretary of State in Trump’s second administration — concluded that the Trump campaign actively worked to capitalize on emails stolen by Russian intelligence from Democratic targets.
The report characterized Russia’s election interference and the Trump campaign’s involvement as one of the most serious national security threats in modern American history.
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