Trump calls for Obama’s arrest, alleges 2016 election conspiracy

United States President Donald Trump has levelled fresh accusations of “treason” against former President Barack Obama, renewing unsubstantiated claims that the Democrat administration sought to manipulate the outcome of the 2016 election through a politicised intelligence operation.

Speaking during an Oval Office meeting on Tuesday with Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, President Trump alleged that his predecessor had overseen what he termed a “seditious conspiracy” to undermine his first campaign.

“The leader of the gang was President Obama, Barack Hussein Obama,” Trump told reporters. “He’s guilty. This was treason. They tried to steal the election. They did things nobody has even imagined.”

Trump’s remarks follow a press release issued last week by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard — a former Democratic congresswoman and now a key figure in Trump’s second-term administration — which claimed to provide “overwhelming evidence” that Obama’s national security team manipulated intelligence reports in 2016.

“Their goal was to usurp President Trump and subvert the will of the American people,” Gabbard said in a follow-up social media post, in which she announced that documents were being submitted to the Department of Justice for criminal referral.

While both Trump and Gabbard have cited internal intelligence records from the final months of the Obama presidency, independent analysts and members of Congress have cast doubt on the validity of their conclusions. Critics argue that Gabbard’s interpretation conflates assessments from different agencies and overlooks the findings of official investigations.

In 2017, a joint report by US intelligence agencies concluded that Russia carried out an extensive disinformation campaign aimed at influencing the 2016 presidential race in Trump’s favour. However, it found no evidence of altered vote counts or direct interference with voting systems.

A subsequent special counsel investigation, completed in 2019, also found insufficient evidence to charge members of Trump’s campaign with conspiring with Russia, though it affirmed that Moscow’s efforts had been “sweeping and systematic.”

Nevertheless, President Trump has continued to denounce the investigations as politically motivated efforts to delegitimise his presidency. “They got caught. And there should be very severe consequences for that,” he said on Tuesday, endorsing Gabbard’s calls for legal action.

Obama’s office issued a rare public response to the allegations, describing Gabbard’s claims as “bizarre” and reaffirming the established findings regarding Russian interference.

“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,” the statement read.

On Capitol Hill, the accusations have deepened partisan divisions. Senator Mark Warner, the Democratic vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, questioned Gabbard’s conduct and urged scrutiny of her role.

“It is sadly not surprising that DNI Gabbard, who promised to depoliticise the intelligence community, is once again weaponising her position to amplify the president’s election conspiracy theories,” he said.

Trump’s resurgence of the “Russia hoax” narrative comes at a time when his political standing has been shaken by renewed criticism, including fallout over his handling of documents linked to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Some observers suggest that the latest claims may be an attempt to redirect public attention.

Despite criticism, Trump has doubled down, even reposting an AI-generated video depicting Obama being handcuffed in the Oval Office, accompanied by the song YMCA. “This is irrefutable proof that Obama was trying to lead a coup,” he insisted.

Analysts have long warned that Trump’s return to office could mark a period of intensified retribution, as he seeks to settle scores with former adversaries and critics.

While no formal investigation has been announced into Obama or members of his administration, Gabbard’s referral to the Department of Justice is expected to be reviewed. Legal experts, however, have indicated that the threshold for criminal charges remains high and that political motivations alone do not constitute evidence of wrongdoing.