White House Escalates Effort to Portray Obama, Former Officials as Part of "Treasonous Conspiracy" Against Trump

Strategic Insights -

In a surprising move, the White House has escalated its effort to portray former President Barack Obama and members of his administration as part of a "treasonous conspiracy" against President Donald Trump. This campaign, which responds to grievances the president has nursed for eight years, includes declassifying two batches of election-related investigative documents in less than a week and the appointment of a "strike force" to assess evidence to support the criminal referrals. The move appears to be an unprecedented act for a serving senior intelligence official, as Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard's appearance at the White House press briefing room to denounce former senior government officials whom Trump considers political enemies was not expected. Gabbard pledged at her Senate confirmation hearing to check "my own views at the door" and deliver intelligence without bias or political influence.

Key Takeaways:

  • The White House has declassified two batches of election-related investigative documents in less than a week, with the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard stating that the documents show a "years-long coup" by Obama-era officials against Trump.
  • Gabbard has referred the declassified documents to the Justice Department and FBI for criminal investigation, including into Obama.
  • The Justice Department has launched a "strike force" to assess evidence to support the criminal referrals and determine the next legal steps, though any effort to prosecute Obama would face formidable legal hurdles.
  • Trump has repeatedly focused on the issue of his treatment by the intelligence community, feeling unfairly targeted and inflamed his distrust of the government.
  • The campaign to revisit the 2016 election and its aftermath appears to be an effort to deflect attention from Trump's own political struggles, including his administration's handling of the release of Justice Department files concerning the late, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
  • Gabbard's appearance at the White House press briefing room to denounce former senior government officials whom Trump considers political enemies was an unprecedented act for a serving senior intelligence official.
  • Gabbard pledged at her Senate confirmation hearing to check "my own views at the door" and deliver intelligence without bias or political influence.
  • A major Supreme Court ruling in 2024 granted presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecutions for acts committed while they are in office, which could thwart Trump's efforts to go after his predecessors.
  • Other federal officials might be shielded in other ways, and federal prosecutors would need to present their case to a grand jury to determine if sufficient evidence exists to bring any charges.
  • Obama's office has issued a rare statement admonishing Trump, calling the allegations "bizarre" and "ridiculous".

Statistics:

  • The House Intelligence Committee report stated that the assessment that Putin favored Trump's election was based on "one scant, unclear and unverifiable fragment of a sentence from a single" human source.
  • The report cited a senior CIA operations officer saying of the fragment, "We don't know what was meant by that" and "five people read it five ways".
  • The report concluded that the assessment that Putin aspired to help Trump win was based on three previously unpublished intelligence reports that were later determined to be flawed.
  • The CIA review of the assessment concluded that the source material believed Putin wanted Trump to win, which is consistent with the raw intelligence.
  • The Senate Intelligence Committee's bipartisan probe concluded that Russian government actors successfully hacked computers and obtained emails from people associated with Clinton's campaign and Democratic Party organizations to sow discord in the United States, hurt Clinton and help Trump.
  • The report that Gabbard released contained an investigation by Republican staff working for Rep. Devin Nunes (R-California), who was then chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
  • The panel was riven by partisan tensions at the time, and the probe ultimately concluded that the spy agencies' finding that Putin wanted Trump to win was based on intelligence reports that contained flawed information or were subject to multiple interpretations.

Sources:

  • Gabbard, Tulsi. Director of National Intelligence. "Declassified Documents Show Years-Long Coup by Obama-Era Officials Against Trump." [no date].
  • Obama, Barack. "Statement on White House Allegations." [no date].
  • House Intelligence Committee. "Report on Russia's 2016 Election Interference." 2017.
  • Brennan, John. "CIA Chief Responds to Allegations." [no date].
  • Stein, Perry, and Ellen Nakashima. "Trump Administration Vows to Investigate Obama-Era Officials Over Alleged Coup." [date].