U.S. President Donald Trump has accused former President Barack Obama of “treason,” referencing a controversial report that claims officials from the Obama administration manipulated intelligence regarding Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
The claim stems from a new report forwarded by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to the Justice Department.
The report accuses Obama’s administration of orchestrating a “treasonous conspiracy” by allegedly fabricating intelligence to suggest Russia interfered in the election to benefit Trump.
According to Gabbard, the supposed fabrication laid the groundwork for what she described as a “years-long coup” attempt against Trump. However, this narrative contradicts the conclusions of multiple official investigations — including four criminal, counterintelligence, and watchdog probes conducted between 2019 and 2023 — which unanimously confirmed that Russia did interfere in the 2016 election in support of Trump.
It’s there, he’s guilty. This was treason,” Trump said on Tuesday,. “They tried to steal the election, they tried to obfuscate the election. They did things that nobody’s ever imagined, even in other countries.”
When asked during a press briefing with visiting Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos who should be prosecuted, Trump responded: “Based on what I read — and I read pretty much what you read — it would be President Obama. He started it.”
Trump, who recently drew criticism for sharing an AI-generated video depicting Obama being arrested, also named other former officials as part of the alleged conspiracy. These included Joe Biden, then Vice President; James Comey, former FBI Director; James Clapper, former Director of National Intelligence; and John Brennan, former CIA Director.
He claimed Obama was the “leader of the gang” and guilty of “treason.”
Despite Trump’s repeated claims that the investigations into Russian interference were politically motivated and amounted to a “hoax,” bipartisan findings have said otherwise. Notably, a 2020 Senate Intelligence Committee report — led by then-acting Chairman Marco Rubio, now Trump’s Secretary of State concluded that Trump’s 2016 campaign actively sought to exploit leaks of Democratic documents obtained by Russian military hackers.
The committee wrote: “It is our conclusion… that the Russian intelligence services’ assault on the integrity of the 2016 U.S. electoral process, and Trump and his associates’ participation in and enabling of this Russian activity, represents one of the single most grave counter.
