President Trump on Tuesday said that former President Obama should be targeted directly by the Department of Justice after his administration’s report alleged Obama administration officials manipulated intelligence related to Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard has sent criminal referrals to the DOJ related to the report released on Friday that asserted the Obama officials engaged in a “treasonous conspiracy.”
When asked in the Oval Office on Tuesday, during a visit with Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., about whom the DOJ should target, Trump pointed to Obama.
“Based on what I read, and I read pretty much what you read, it would be President Obama. He started it,” Trump said. “And [then-vice president Joe] Biden was there with him and [former FBI director James] Comey was there and [former DNI director James] Clapper, the whole group was there. [Former CIA director John] Brennan. They were all there in a room, right here, this was the room.”
He added, “If you look at those papers, they have him stone-cold and it was President Obama. It wasn’t lots of people all over the place, it was them, too. But the leader of the gang was President Obama, Barack Hussein Obama, have you heard of him?”
“He’s guilty, it’s not a question,” Trump said. “This was treason, this was every word you can think of.”
He added that Gabbard told him that thousands of additional documents would be coming, and he called Obama the “ringleader.”
Friday’s memo also cited former officials like Clapper, Brennan and Comey and comes after Trump has for years claimed the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether his campaign colluded with Moscow was a “hoax.”
Trump in March signed a memo ordering the declassification of “all files related to Crossfire Hurricane,” the name given to the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The president on Tuesday also was questioned about Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche reaching out to lawyers of Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted sex offender and associate of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, to set up a meeting with her.
He said he didn’t know anything about it but brought up Gabbard’s report.
“The witch hunt that you should be talking about if they caught President Obama absolutely cold, Tulsi Gabbard. What they did to this country in 2016, starting in 2016 but going up all the way going up to 2020 and the election, they tried to rig the election and they got caught and they should be very severe consequences for that,” Trump said.
Trump also said when he “caught” former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton but he “let her off the hook” because she was a wife of a former president.
“It’s time to go after people. Obama’s been caught directly,” he said. “What they did in 2016 and in 2020 is very criminal, it’s criminal at the highest level so that’s really the things you should be talking about.”
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