Former US President Barack Obama has reacted for the first time to Donald Trump's "treason" accusations against him, labeling them as weak attempts at distraction.
Republican former president Trump recently called on authorities to take Obama to trial after a report claimed that officials in his administration manipulated intelligence regarding Russia's role in the 2016 election.
Those comments were drawn from a report filed last week with the Justice Department by U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. The report implicated members of the Obama administration in what it described as a "treasonous conspiracy"—charges that have been forcefully rejected by Democrats, who have branded the report as false and misleading.
In reply, Obama's spokesman Patrick Rodenbush made a rare statement, describing Trump's accusation as an attempt to divert attention from increasing focus on the refusal of the administration to release documents related to the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein.
"As a matter of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not typically give this kind of constant nonsense and misinformation being put out of this White House the dignity of a response. But these allegations are outrageous enough to warrant one. These absurd charges are ridiculous and a desperate effort to divert," Rodenbush said.
The report continued to explain that the intelligence reported in Gabbard's report did not refute the widely held view that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election, although it uncovered no vote tampering.
"These conclusions were validated in a 2020 report issued by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, chaired by then-Chairman Marco Rubio," Rodenbush further added.
That Senate Intelligence Committee report—directed by Marco Rubio, now Trump's Secretary of State—found that the Trump campaign endeavored to "maximize the impact" of Russian-military-stolen information obtained from the Democratic Party.
The Russian cyberattacks were aimed to help Donald Trump hurt his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, in the 2016 presidential election, the committee found.
"The Russian intelligence agencies' attack on the integrity of the 2016 US electoral process, and Trump and his allies' involvement in and facilitation of this Russian action, is one of the single most serious counterintelligence threats to American national security in the modern era," the report declared.
Inside Tulsi Gabbard's Claims
In her report, Gabbard claimed the Obama administration misrepresented intelligence to falsely depict Russian interference, insisting it was part of a larger attempt to provoke what she termed a coup attempt on Trump.
Her assertions were widely discredited, however. Between 2019 and 2023, four extensive investigations—spanning the criminal, counterintelligence, and independent oversight agencies—confirmed that Russia had indeed intervened to assist Trump's candidacy in 2016.
At a press conference in the Oval Office with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Trump was questioned who he thought should be taken to court after Gabbard's report.
"Based on what I read -- and I read pretty much what you read -- it would be President Obama. He started it," Trump replied. This was at the backdrop of criticism over his recent social media posting which included an AI-created video of Obama getting arrested.
Trump further implicated some other top Obama figures, including former Vice President Joe Biden, former FBI Director James Comey, former DNI James Clapper, and former CIA Director John Brennan, of planning a plot against him.
However, Trump reserved his strongest denunciation for Obama, referring to him as the "leader of the gang" and calling him guilty of "treason."
Since the early days of the Russia probes, Trump has insisted that the multiple investigations into the Kremlin's 2016 election meddling—and his campaign's role—were all a politically driven "hoax.
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