Barack Obama fired back at Donald Trump after he and members of his administration accused the former president of criminal behavior surrounding the 2016 election.
On Tuesday, Obama issued a rare public message following Trump resurfacing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s comments from the weekend that the former president took part in a “treasonous conspiracy” with his administration “manufacturing intelligence” to suggest Russia attempted to influence the results of the 2016 election.
“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,” the statement attributed to Patrick Rodenbush, a spokesperson for Obama, read. “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.”
The assertions began with Gabbard’s appearance on “Fox & Friends” over the weekend. The director of national intelligence said the Obama administration worked to make it seem like Russia attempted to influence the 2016 election that saw Trump victorious over Hillary Clinton. Special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s 2019 report found no evidence Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia at the time, but determined it made efforts to interfere in the election.
“President Obama and his team, he directed a manufactured piece of intelligence that detailed not if, but how Russia tried to influence the outcome of the United States election that President Trump won in November of 2016,” she said. “This document was then used as the foundation for everything that came next.”
Trump added fuel to the fire Tuesday morning when he brought up Gabbard’s weekend points.
“The witch hunt that you should be talking about is they caught President Obama,” Trump said when asked about the ongoing Epstein scandal for his administration. “What they did to this country in 2016, starting in 2016 but going up to 2020 of the election, they tried to rig the election and they got caught. There should be very severe consequences for that. When we caught Hillary Clinton, I said, you know what, let’s not go too far here. It’s the ex-wife of a president and I thought it was sort of terrible. I let her off the hook and I’m very happy I did. But it’s time to start — after what they did to me and whether it’s the right or wrong — it’s time to go after people. Obama has been caught directly.”
