Former President Barack Obama’s spokesperson responded on Tuesday to President Donald Trump’s administration’s allegations that Obama took part in a plot to subvert Trump’s 2016 victory.
At a Tuesday Oval Office press conference, Trump called for his Department of Justice (DOJ) to target Obama based on the allegations, accusing the former president of being “guilty” of “treason.” Obama’s spokesperson Patrick Rodenbush wrote that Trump’s White House was spewing “outrageous” assertions.
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“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,” Rodenbush wrote. “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,” he added. “These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.”
Trump’s comments followed Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard releasing a declassified file on Friday that she said contains “overwhelming evidence” that Obama and his national security team “manufactured and politicized intelligence” following the president’s 2016 win.
A reporter noted at the Tuesday presser that Gabbard had “submitted a criminal referral to the Department of Justice” and asked the president who he thinks the DOJ should go after in the Obama administration.
“Well, based on what I read … it would be President Obama,” Trump responded. “He started it … the leader of the gang was President Obama, Barack Hussein Obama.”
“Look, he’s guilty. It’s not a question. You know, I like to say, let’s give it time,” he added. “It’s there, he’s guilty. This was treason. This was every word you can think of. They tried to steal the election. They tried to obfuscate the election.”
The file shows that there was no evidence that Trump was acting as a Russian asset nor was there evidence Russia planned to “use cyber means” or “directly manipulate the actual vote count” to manipulate the election.
The memo accompanying the file alleges DNI James Clapper and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) withheld crucial context and did not include in their press release that the FBI and NSA [National Security Agency] only had “low confidence” in blaming Russia for data leaks in September 2016. However, the memo does acknowledge “supporting evidence indicating the Russian government directed hacking of the DNC and [the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee].”
The memo also asserts “Deep State officials in the [intelligence community began] leaking blatantly false intelligence to the Washington Post.” Officials told the Post that Russia had use “cyber means” to manipulate the election results and that the CIA had “concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened” to boost Trump.
An Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) whistleblower said they “could not concur in good conscience based on the information available” that there was “a decisive Russian preference for then-candidate Donald Trump,” according to the memo.
Obama’s office and the White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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