U.S President, Donald Trump has reignited controversy by accusing his predecessor, Barack Obama, of “treason” and demanding his prosecution.
The accusation follows a contentious report released last week alleging that top Obama-era officials fabricated intelligence to frame Trump in connection with Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
During a press event at the White House with visiting Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Trump was asked who should be held accountable for the allegations.
He responded bluntly: “Based on what I read and I read pretty much, what you read, it would be President Obama. He started it.”
Trump’s statement follows the release of a report by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who has submitted criminal referrals to the U.S Department of Justice.
Gabbard’s report claims that officials under the Obama administration engaged in a “treasonous conspiracy” by allegedly manufacturing evidence about Russian interference to delegitimize Trump’s presidency.
“They laid the groundwork for what was essentially a years-long coup against President Trump,” Gabbard said.
Trump, who has long maintained that the Russia investigations were politically motivated, also named other top Obama-era officials as part of the alleged plot including then-Vice President Joe Biden, former FBI Director James Comey, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and former CIA Director John Brennan.
However, he reserved his harshest words for Obama, calling him the “leader of the gang.”
The accusations stand in stark contrast to the findings of multiple investigations conducted between 2019 and 2023.
Those investigations led by criminal, counterintelligence, and bipartisan congressional panels consistently concluded that Russia did interfere in the 2016 election with the intent to boost Trump’s chances.
A notable 2020 report from the Senate Intelligence Committee, then chaired by Marco Rubio (now serving as Trump’s Secretary of State), concluded that the Trump campaign actively sought to benefit from Russian cyberattacks and document leaks targeting the Democratic Party and candidate Hillary Clinton.
“It is our conclusion… that the Russian intelligence services’ assault on the integrity of the 2016 U.S. electoral process, and Trump and his associates’ participation in and enabling of this Russian activity, represents one of the single most
