‘Bizarre And Ridiculous’: Obama Office Slams Trump's Treason In 2016 Election Accusations

Washington: The office of former President Barack Obama has strongly denied allegations made by President Donald Trump, calling claims of Obama's involvement in a treasonous conspiracy against him bizarre and ridiculous. According to Obama's spokesperson, Patrick Rodenbush, these accusations are a weak attempt at distraction and do not change the fact that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election.

Trump had accused Obama of orchestrating a conspiracy to undermine his presidency, citing a report from director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. However, multiple investigations, including those by the US intelligence community and the Senate Intelligence Committee, have concluded that while Russian actors attempted to influence the election, there was no evidence that vote tallies were altered.

The US President accused the former President of treason in connection with the 2016 presidential election. Speaking from the Oval Office during a meeting with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, Trump claimed that Obama had been caught cold and called him the leader of the gang. Donald Trump's accusations were based on a report released by Tulsi Gabbard.

Here's What Obama's Office Said: 

“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.”

Gabbard's report, released on July 18, alleged that Barack Obama and his top national security aides altered intelligence to shape a narrative about Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The report claimed that the Obama administration knew Russia did not affect the outcome of the election through cyberattacks but still pushed the narrative of Russian interference.

As per reports, the evidence suggested that Russia did indeed interfere in the 2016 election, using social media influence campaigns and hacking Democratic emails via WikiLeaks. The conclusion is backed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's 2019 report and a bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee investigation in 2020. The Senate report found that Russia used Republican operative Paul Manafort, WikiLeaks, and others to try to influence the election to help Trump's campaign.

The analysts stated that Donald Trump's accusations against Barack Obama appear to be part of a wider pattern of deflection, as the President seeks to shift attention away from his own controversies. The US media reports suggested that when asked about his former social ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the late sex offender, Trump dodged the question and instead launched into an attack on Obama. "The witch hunt you should be talking about is that they caught President Obama absolutely cold," Trump said.

Reports further added that despite Trump's claims, there is a bipartisan consensus on the issue of Russian interference in the 2016 election. The Senate Intelligence Committee's report, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio, concluded that Russia's actions represented one of the single most grave counterintelligence threats to American national security in the modern era. Rubio's committee found that the Trump campaign sought to maximise the impact of leaks of Democratic documents stolen by Russian military intelligence.