U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused predecessor Barack Obama of “treason” and urged the Justice Department to prosecute him, citing a new intelligence report that claims the Obama administration manipulated evidence of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Speaking alongside visiting Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the Oval Office, Trump said Obama “started” what he described as a conspiracy to discredit his 2016 campaign and presidency. He also implicated then–vice president Joe Biden and former intelligence chiefs James Comey, James Clapper and John Brennan, branding Obama “the leader of the gang.”
The allegations stem from criminal referrals sent to the Justice Department by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. A report released Friday by Gabbard’s office asserts that senior Obama officials fabricated intelligence on Russian election interference to “lay the groundwork for a years‑long coup” against Trump.
Independent experts swiftly challenged the claim, noting that four separate investigations conducted between 2019 and 2023—including special counsel and Senate Intelligence Committee probes—concluded that Russia sought to aid Trump in 2016, though it did not alter vote counts.
Obama spokesman Patrick Rodenbush dismissed Trump’s remarks as “ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction,” adding that last week’s document “does nothing to undercut the consensus that Russia tried to influence the 2016 election.”
Critics said Trump’s new offensive aims to divert attention from mounting pressure over the administration’s refusal to release files related to the Jeffrey Epstein case. On Monday, Trump drew fire for sharing an AI‑generated video depicting Obama being arrested.
The 2020 bipartisan Senate report—led by Marco Rubio, now Trump’s secretary of state—found that Trump campaign advisers attempted to “maximize the impact” of Russian‑hacked Democratic emails during the 2016 race. The panel called the episode “one of the most grave counterintelligence threats to American national security in the modern era.”
The Justice Department has not commented on Gabbard’s referrals or Trump’s call for prosecutions.
