Obama Responds to Trump’s Russia ‘Treason’ Threats

St. Croix Times Staff

Washington, D.C. - Former President Barack Obama’s office has released a statement after President Donald Trump accused the Democrat and members of his Administration of committing “treason” by allegedly manufacturing intelligence regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election.

“Out of respect for the Office of the Presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response. But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction,” the statement said. 

     Trump has rarely enjoyed a cordial relationship with his predecessor. The accusation that Obama committed treason has been met with backlash from critics who argue that the claims are an attempt to distract from the controversy around the Jeffrey Epstein files. 

Obama’s spokesperson, Patrick Rodenbush, refuted the claims made by Trump and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, writing: “Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 Presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes,” he said. “These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.” 

Speaking in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump called Obama “the leader of the gang” when it came to the Russia investigation and the outcome of the 2020 election. “He’s guilty…This was treason,” President Trump said.    

In a new report, released Friday, from Tulsi Gabbard, which downplayed the extent of Russian interference in the 2016 election by highlighting Obama Administration emails showing officials had concluded before and after the Presidential race that Moscow had not hacked state election systems to manipulate votes in Trump’s favor.

But Obama’s Democratic Administration never suggested otherwise, even after it exposed other means by which Russia interfered in the election, including through a massive hack-and-leak operation of Democratic emails by intelligence operatives working with WikiLeaks. 

Ms. Gabbard’s report appears to suggest the absence of manipulation of state election systems as a basis to call into question more general Russian interference. 

Besides Obama, Trump detoured from hosting the leader of the Philippines in the Oval Office, and took the opportunity to rattle off a list of people he accused of acting criminally, including former FBI Director James Comey, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who ran against Trump in 2016, and former National Intelligence Director James Clapper. 

Trump accused Obama, without any evidence, of being the “ringleader” of a conspiracy to get him.

Obama has never been accused of any wrongdoing as part of the Russia investigation, and, in any event, a landmark Supreme Court opinion from last year shields former Presidents from prosecution for official acts conducted in office.