Donald Trump has accused former President Barack Obama of “treason,” alleging that Obama and his administration attempted to sabotage his 2016 election victory by linking him to Russian interference. Speaking at the White House on Tuesday, Trump claimed Obama was involved in efforts to discredit his presidency before it began.
“They tried to steal the election,” Trump said, referring to a declassified report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released last week. The report, authored by Director Tulsi Gabbard, accused Obama and his national security officials of orchestrating a “years-long coup” against Trump. Democrats and critics have dismissed the claims as unfounded.
Asked by reporters about the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during the same press briefing, Trump deflected, turning attention back to Obama. “The witch hunt that you should be talking about is that they caught President Obama absolutely cold,” Trump said. “He’s guilty. This was treason. This was every word you can think of.”
Trump’s remarks came as he hosted Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the Oval Office.
Obama’s spokesperson, Patrick Rodenbush, issued a rare public rebuttal, calling Trump’s comments “outrageous” and “a weak attempt at distraction.” He added, “These bizarre allegations are ridiculous.”
The intelligence report cited by Trump includes declassified emails from Obama-era officials and a presidential briefing dated December 8, 2016. That document assessed that Russian and criminal actors had not affected the outcome of the election through cyberattacks on voting infrastructure.
However, the FBI later distanced itself from the assessment. A day after the briefing, top intelligence officials met at the White House, where an aide to then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper reportedly asked agencies to compile a new assessment on Russia’s influence campaign “per the president’s request.”
Tulsi Gabbard, in her role as intelligence director, interpreted this as proof of an organised effort to harm Trump and suggested that some former Obama officials could face prosecution.
Obama’s office rejected that claim, stating that nothing in the report contradicted the US intelligence community’s broader conclusion: Russia had worked to influence the 2016 election in Trump’s favour but had not altered actual vote tallies.
That conclusion was supported by a 2017 intelligence assessment and a 2020 bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report. Both found that Russia had engaged in online misinformation campaigns and hacked Democratic Party emails to damage Hillary Clinton’s candidacy.
Despite years of scrutiny, multiple investigations, including the Mueller inquiry and the later Durham report, did not establish that Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia. The Mueller report found insufficient evidence for criminal charges, while the Durham report criticised the FBI’s early investigation as lacking proper analytical standards.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Republican senator at the time, signed the 2020 Senate report confirming Russia’s role in aiding Trump’s campaign.
Trump’s accusation marks the latest in a series of public statements attacking Obama and casting doubt on the legitimacy of the 2016 election investigations.