By Kennedy Nalyanya
Washington D.C. - A rare and forceful statement from former President Barack Obama's office on Tuesday directly countered President Donald Trump's explosive claims of "treason" and a "rigged" 2016 and 2020 election. The exchange marks a significant escalation in the ongoing war of words between the two administrations.
"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," stated Patrick Rodenbush, spokesperson for Obama's office. "But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction."
Trump's latest broadsides came during a press gaggle, where he pivoted from questions about the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to allege Obama's "criminality." "After what they did to me — and whether it’s right or wrong, it’s time to go after people. Obama’s been caught directly,” Trump told reporters. “What they did in 2016 and 2020 is very criminal. It’s criminal at the highest level. So that’s really the things you should be talking about.” He emphatically added, “Look, he’s guilty. It’s not a question. This was treason. This was every word you can think of. They tried to steal the election. They tried to obfuscate the election.”
Trump's accusations appear to be fueled by recent social media posts and television appearances by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe. They claim to have unearthed documents suggesting Obama administration officials manipulated intelligence to undermine Trump's 2016 electoral victory. Gabbard even announced a criminal referral to the Justice Department on Friday, a move Trump publicly praised later on Tuesday, reiterating his "vicious, horrible people" characterization of Obama and others.
However, Obama's spokesperson Rodenbush pushed back, asserting that the Trump administration is misrepresenting information. "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," Rodenbush explained. He cited a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio, as affirming these findings.
When asked for comment, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said, "The White House is appreciative of Director Gabbard’s commitment to transparency and effort to end the weaponization of government against American citizens.”
Gabbard's central claim revolves around a December 8, 2016, intelligence assessment that she alleges was pulled before reaching the President. This assessment, according to Gabbard, found that Russia "did not impact recent U.S. election results" by conducting cyberattacks on infrastructure.
Yet, this narrative conflicts with the Obama administration's consistent position. As Obama himself stated days after receiving the December 2016 brief, "I can assure the public that there was not the kind of tampering with the voting process that was of concern… the votes that were cast were counted — they were counted appropriately.” The Obama White House's focus, backed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation and a Senate report, was on Russia's efforts to interfere in the campaign through leaked documents and the use of bots and troll farms to spread misinformation.
Further undermining Trump's "criminality" allegations is the John Durham report. Appointed by then-Attorney General Bill Barr and championed by Trump, Durham's three-year investigation into claims that the Russia-related probes were politicized found no evidence to support the level of criminality now alleged by Trump. While the report was critical of the FBI's handling, noting a "serious lack of analytical rigor," it did not find evidence of a grand conspiracy or illegal actions on the part of Obama administration officials.
In stark contrast, the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report was unequivocal about Russia's actions: “The Committee’s bipartisan Report found that Russia’s goal in its unprecedented hack-and-leak operation against the United States in 2016, among other motives, was to assist the Trump Campaign. Candidate Trump and his Campaign responded to that threat by embracing, encouraging, and exploiting the Russian effort."
Democratic lawmakers have sharply criticized the administration's actions, viewing them as an attempt to rewrite history. "This is just another example of the DNI trying to cook the books, rewrite history, and erode trust in the intelligence agencies she’s supposed to be leading,” stated Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va. House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar of California echoed this sentiment, calling it "all a distraction" from other issues, including the Epstein case.
The revival of these old grievances by Trump comes amidst backlash from some of his supporters regarding his handling of the Epstein case. In recent days, Trump has also used his Truth Social platform to accuse Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., of law-breaking and has shared AI-generated mug shots of various Democratic officials. Meanwhile, the Justice Department recently released files related to Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination and a redacted report on the FBI’s handling of files related to James Comey's investigation into Hillary Clinton.
Add comment
Comments