U.S. President Donald Trump has accused former President Barack Obama of “treason,” citing a controversial report that alleges Obama-era officials manipulated intelligence about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
The claim follows a report submitted by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to the Justice Department. The report accuses the Obama administration of orchestrating a “treasonous conspiracy” by allegedly fabricating intelligence to suggest that Russia interfered in the election to benefit Trump.
According to Gabbard, this alleged fabrication laid the foundation for what she called a “years-long coup” attempt against Trump. However, this narrative contradicts the findings 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 to support Trump.
Trump commented on Tuesday, “It’s there, he’s guilty. This was treason. 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 faced criticism for sharing an AI-generated video depicting Obama’s arrest, also implicated other former officials in the alleged conspiracy, including Joe Biden (then Vice President), James Comey (former FBI Director), James Clapper (former Director of National Intelligence), and John Brennan (former CIA Director). He labeled Obama as the “leader of the gang” and accused him of “treason.”
Despite Trump’s repeated assertions that investigations into Russian interference were politically motivated and amounted to a “hoax,” bipartisan findings have contradicted this view. A notable example is the 2020 Senate Intelligence Committee report, led by then-acting Chairman Marco Rubio, now Trump’s Secretary of State, which concluded that Trump’s 2016 campaign actively sought to exploit leaks of Democratic documents obtained by Russian military hackers.
The committee stated: “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…”
