() President Barack Obama’s team has labeled President Donald Trump’s claims that Obama committed treason and should be prosecuted “bizarre” and called them “a weak attempt at distraction.”
Obama has remained largely quiet during Trump’s presidency, choosing not to reply to Trump’s remarks about him.
But in a statement on Tuesday, his spokesperson said the latest comments from the sitting president were “outrageous enough to merit” a reply even if he “does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response.”
Trump made his latest claims during a press conference with Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., veering onto the tangent after a reporter asked him about the Jeffrey Epstein files.
He said, without providing evidence, that Obama had attempted to rig the 2016 election, also attacking others including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, President Joe Biden and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
“These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction,” Obama’s office said in a statement.
Trump also said that the Department of Justice is looking into a report from current Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard that repeated the claims, citing declassified emails to paint the picture of a conspiracy to change intelligence assessments on Russian interference.
Gabbard alleged that Obama directed his national security team to create an assessment that she said contradicted an earlier one that found no Russian interference.
The assessments referenced, however, refer to two different aspects of possible interference, with one finding that Russia was unlikely to be able to interfere with election infrastructure or change vote tallies and the other finding that Russia did try to influence the election and weaken trust in democracy using tools such as social media bots and releasing hacked information.
The statement from Obama’s office noted that there was bipartisan acceptance of findings that include the conclusion that Russia did work to interfere in the election.
“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,” the statement said. “These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.”
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. 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.
Statement from Patrick Rodenbush, Spokesperson for President Obama
