President Donald Trump accused former President Barack Obama of treason on Tuesday while citing a newly released report from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
President Trump addressed the report during remarks at the White House after being pressed by reporters about the so-called Epstein files.
"The witch hunt you should be talking about is that they caught President Obama absolutely cold — Tulsi Gabbard," President Trump said. "What they did to this country in 2016, starting in 2016, but going up all the way to 2020 and the election. They tried to rig the election and they got caught. And there should be very severe consequences for that."
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According to the Associated Press, the report in question downplayed Russian interference in the 2016 election by highlighting Obama administration emails. The documents reportedly show officials had concluded, both before and after the election, that Moscow had not hacked into state voting systems to manipulate results in President Trump’s favor.
However, Obama and his allies never claimed Russia altered vote tallies. Instead, they have long asserted that Moscow used social media and other influence campaigns to sway the election’s outcome
Obama has typically avoided responding directly to President Trump’s claims or policies, but a spokesperson issued a rare statement Tuesday, calling the president’s accusations "outrageous enough to merit one."
"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. These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio," said Patrick Rodenbush, spokesperson for Obama.
That response appeared to do little to quiet President Trump’s criticism.
"It is clear from the documents that Obama and his administration spent their time working to manufacture fake information in order to undermine Democracy and subvert the will of the American people," White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said in a statement "This statement from a low level staffer proves Obama is terrified of the truth getting out as he and his cronies are exposed."
