Days after posting a video simulating the arrest of former president Barack Obama, President Donald Trump on 22/7 continued to promote the theory that his predecessor tried to mislead the American people about the 2016 election results, hindering his first term from 2017-2020.
"The head of this conspiracy is former president Obama, Mr. Barack Hussein Obama. He is guilty. This is treason. All the worst words you can think of. They tried to steal the election. They tried to rig the results. They did things that no one has ever imagined, even in other countries," Trump told reporters at the Oval Office while hosting Philippine President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.
In 2016, during the final days of Obama's second term, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) concluded that Russia had tried to interfere in the US election in favor of Trump. The US government then expelled several Russian diplomats and imposed sanctions on Moscow.
A 2017 US intelligence community report detailed Russia's influence campaign on the US election. However, in 2019, a report by special counsel Robert Mueller concluded that there was not enough evidence to confirm Trump's campaign colluded with Russia, but still accused Russia of interfering in the election "in a sweeping and systematic fashion".
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President Donald Trump speaks at the White House on 22/7. Photo: Reuters |
President Donald Trump speaks at the White House on 22/7. Photo: Reuters
Trump has always viewed these investigations as political attacks meant to undermine his power. On 22/7, the US president reiterated recent claims from National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard and accused the Obama administration of committing crimes.
"They tried to rig the election, and they got caught. They deserve serious consequences," Trump said.
The tensions aimed at Obama began when Gabbard announced on 18/7 that she had found new evidence about "Russia hoax", suggesting that former president Obama and his national security cabinet "fabricated and politicized intelligence information to lay the groundwork for a multi-year campaign to undermine President Trump".
Gabbard then continued to post a series of messages on social media, some implying that she had urged the US Department of Justice to prosecute Obama. She argued that the investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 US election were a treasonous plot. "Their goal was to overthrow President Trump and reverse the will of the American people," Gabbard argued.
A spokesperson for Obama refuted the accusations, saying they were "so absurd they require a response".
Obama's side said the "ludicrously bizarre" accusations were a "feeble attempt to distract" from the US Justice Department's failure to release files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
"Nothing in the documents released last week undermines the widely accepted conclusion that Russia sought to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election and did not successfully manipulate any votes," Obama's spokesperson said. "These conclusions were reaffirmed in the 2020 bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report, led by then-Senator, now Secretary of State Marco Rubio."
Thanh Danh (According to Fox, CBS, Al Jazeera)
