Former U.S. President Donald Trump has accused his predecessor, Barack Obama, of “treason” and called for his prosecution over what he described as a conspiracy to undermine his presidency using falsified intelligence on Russian election interference.
Trump made the explosive claim Tuesday during a joint press event with visiting Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, following a controversial report released by U.S. Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard.
“The leader of the gang was Obama. He started it,” Trump said, insisting that the former president orchestrated efforts to discredit his administration. “He is guilty of treason.”
Gabbard’s report, published Friday, alleged that officials in the Obama administration manipulated intelligence to support what she called a “years-long coup against President Trump.” She said criminal referrals related to the findings had been sent to the Department of Justice.
The report directly contradicts the findings of multiple investigations conducted between 2019 and 2023 — including probes by the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee — all of which confirmed that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to benefit Trump.
Despite this, Trump named several key figures from the Obama administration, including then-Vice President Joe Biden, former FBI Director James Comey, former DNI James Clapper, and former CIA Director John Brennan, accusing them of participating in what he called a “treasonous conspiracy.”
Critics swiftly condemned the allegations. Trump had faced backlash a day earlier for sharing an AI-generated video depicting Obama’s arrest, which was widely criticized as misleading and inflammatory.
The 2020 Senate Intelligence Committee report, led at the time by Republican Senator Marco Rubio, now serving as Secretary of State, found that Trump’s campaign “sought to maximize the impact” of leaks tied to documents hacked by Russian military intelligence. The report described the events as a serious national security threat and criticized the Trump campaign’s interactions with Russian operatives.
Despite years of evidence and bipartisan confirmation of Russian interference, Trump continues to maintain that the investigation was a politically motivated “hoax” aimed at derailing his presidency.
The Justice Department has yet to comment on Gabbard’s referrals or Trump’s latest statements.
