President Donald Trump called for the arrest of former President Barack Obama, reiterating unproven claims that the Democratic administration intentionally misunderstood the people in its 2016 election assessment.
During an oval office meeting Tuesday with Philippine President Ferdinand “Bonbon” Marcos Jr., Trump accused longtime rival Obama of leading a criminal conspiracy.
“The gang leaders were President Obama and Barack Hussein Obama,” Trump told the media.
“He’s guilty. This was treason. This was all you could think of. They tried to steal the election. They tried to obfuscate the election.
President Trump has a history of spreading election-related falsehoods, including denying his own defeat in the 2020 race.
However, since taking office in his second term, he has tried to settle the score for his victory in the 2016 presidential contest.
In 2016, on the day Obama’s second term decline, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) concluded that Russia was trying to shake up an outcome in Trump’s favor. Obama responded to the allegations by ousting Russian diplomats and slapping domestic sanctions.
The 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment later provided details of the Russian Impact Campaign.
However, in 2019, the special advisor’s report found that there was no sufficient evidence to support claims that Trump’s campaign had conspiracy with Russia. But it once again highlighted the government’s claim that Russia had “dramatically and systematically” intervened in the election.
But Trump describes a politicized attack-like probe designed to undermine his authority.
In his appearance on Tuesday, Trump cited recent claims from his National Intelligence Director Tarsi Gabbard to alleges fraud on the part of the Obama administration.
“They caught President Obama in the absolute cold,” Trump said. “They tried to equip the election, but they got caught. That must have been very serious consequences.”
Tulsi Gabbard updates Obama attack
Trump’s latest remarks about what he calls “Russian hoax” come just days after Gabbard issued a press release on the subject on July 18th.
In a statement, Gabbard’s office claims that “President Obama and his national security ministers have produced and politicized the intelligence reporting agency to lay the foundation for a long-standing coup against President Trump,” and that they have “revealed overwhelming evidence.”
Gabbard continued its release in a series of social media posts. Some show that she forced criminal charges against Obama onto the Department of Justice (DOJ). She calls the scrutiny of the 2016 election a “rebellious plot.”
“Their goal was to take President Trump and destroy the will of the American people,” Gabbard wrote.
“No matter how powerful it is, everyone involved in this conspiracy must be investigated and charged to the fullest extent of the law,” she continued. “We hand over all the documents to the DOJ for criminal referrals.”
However, the truth behind Gabbard’s report is widely questioned. Critics point out that she appears to confuse different conclusions.
Gabbard, for example, highlights internal government documents from the 2016 election period that show that Russia is not using cyberattacks to change the overall vote count.
However, the published 2017 Intelligence Report did not claim that Russia was trying to hack the election. Instead, he highlighted the way Russia tried to influence public sentiment through disinformation.
The Russian campaign included online propaganda, the spread of hacked data, and targeted messaging on the individuals and groups involved in elections.
Other investigations related to the issue, including another Department of Justice General Report on Inspectors and a Republican-led Senate investigation, all supported Russia’s actual attempt to influence the 2016 election.
Repulsion to Gabbard’s statement
But Gabbard’s claim that scrutiny in the 2016 election was a detective has prompted a stir, especially from Democrats.
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner even questioned whether Gabbard should remain in his role as director of national intelligence.
“It’s no surprise that, sadly, DNI Gabbard, who has promised to depoliticize the intelligence reporting community, once again arms her position to amplify the president’s election conspiracy theory,” he wrote on social media.
Obama himself issued a statement through his office, calling Gabbard’s claim “strange.”
“The documents issued last week do not overturn the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but failed to manipulate the vote,” he said.
Some critics speculate that Trump may be using long-standing issues regarding Russian election interference to distract him from his current political suffering. He recently faced backlash from members of his base over the processing of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Still, President Trump doubled Gabbard’s claims and reposted a video generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Monday to show Obama being handcuffed in an oval office while the YMCA plays.
“This is evidence that Obama was inflammatory and that Obama was trying to lead the coup — an unrefutable evidence,” Trump said Tuesday. “Obama led it.”
Experts have long speculated that Trump could use his second term as president to resolve political scores and seek retaliation against his opponents.
