‘It’s Time to Go After People’: Amid Epstein Fallout, Trump Says Obama Is Guilty of Treason
President Donald Trump from the Oval Office Tuesday accused former President Barack Obama of treason, which is punishable by death.
Trump was reacting to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s recent baseless allegations that Obama attempted to organize a “coup” against Trump in 2016.
“It’s time to go after people,” the president said. “Obama’s been caught directly. He’s guilty. This was treason.”
“He’s guilty. It’s not a question,” Trump added. “I like to say, ‘Let’s give it time.’ It’s there. He’s guilty. This was treason. This was every word you could think of. They tried to steal the election.”
Trump’s allegations against Obama, which come as pressure mounts over his administration’s mishandling of documents related to multimillionaire financier and convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein, are his most explicit order yet for federal prosecutors to target his political opponents.
The president’s comments also come after numerous legal and political experts warned that Trump would use the mechanisms of the federal government to enact retribution for long-term grievances.
Trump in recent days has embarked on a frenzied attack on a wide array of his political opponents — perhaps as part of an effort to shift focus away from the Epstein files and to other MAGA grievances.
Trump’s appointees have been key to this effort.
Gabbard last week published a flood of documents purporting to show that Obama and his national security officials “manufactured and politicized intelligence” to initiate the FBI’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
This effort, Gabbard claimed, amounted to Obama and his officials plotting “what was essentially a years-long coup against President Trump.”
For years, Trump has asserted that the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered with the election to benefit his campaign and hamstring Hillary Clinton’s was a hoax meant to damage his presidency. He has repeatedly spread disinformation to further those baseless allegations.
The documents Gabbard released failed to refute the core findings of multiple previous investigations into Russia’s interference. Her characterization of the documents was misleading and directly contradicted what other Trump officials have said.
Despite this, Gabbard said she sent the documents to the DOJ “for criminal referral,” though she did not specify if she referred specific officials to the department.
The president traditionally has no discretion over who or what the DOJ investigates. Trump, however, has shattered that norm by installing his personal attorneys throughout the department and directing them to open explicitly partisan investigations.
After saying the DOJ should investigate Obama, the president said that ultimately the next steps depend on the department and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“It’s going to be her decision,” he claimed.
Trump’s comments came a day after he shared an AI-generated video of FBI agents arresting Obama in the Oval Office as the song “Y.M.C.A.” by the Village People played in the background.