This was treason: Trump accuses Obama of rigging US presidential elections

US President Donald Trump accused former President Barack Obama of "treason," saying Obama led a plan to wrongly connect him to Russia and hurt his 2016 presidential campaign.

Since taking office in January, this is the most serious accusation Trump has made against Obama.

Trump repeated remarks made by Tulsi Gabbard, his intelligence chief, who said Obama officials should face prosecution. Gabbard released documents and called the 2016 events a "treasonous conspiracy" by top Obama officials to damage Trump.

Trump said, "It's there, he's guilty. This was treason. The witch hunt that you should be talking about is they caught President Obama absolutely cold ... They tried to rig the election and they got caught — and there should be very severe consequences for that."

RUSSIA TRIED TO INFLUENCE US ELECTION

According to news agency Reuters, US intelligence reports found that Russia tried to influence the 2016 election to help Trump and harm Democrat Hillary Clinton. But these reports said the impact was limited and showed no proof Russia changed votes.

A Senate report in 2020 said Russia worked with people like Paul Manafort to interfere with the election to support Trump’s campaign.

Trump often calls these investigations a "hoax" and recently shared a fake video showing Obama being arrested. Democrats say the claims are false and politically motivated. Congressman Jim Himes wrote, "This is a lie... there was no evidence of politicisation in the intelligence community's actions."

TRUMP TARGETS OBAMA AND EPSTEIN

Trump, who is under pressure from his supporters, has been urging to release files on Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges. When asked about Epstein, Trump quickly turned to criticise Obama.

He said, "The witch hunt that you should be talking about is they caught President Obama absolutely cold... There should be very severe consequences for that."

Trump warned that action might be taken against Obama and his officials, calling the Russia probe a "treasonous act" and accusing Obama of "trying to lead a coup."

Obama has often been a target of Trump’s attacks. In 2011, Trump claimed Obama was not born in the US, which led Obama to release his birth certificate.

In response to Trump's accusations, a spokesperson from Barack Obama’s office said that nothing in the documents released last week changes the key conclusion: Russia attempted to interfere in the 2016 US election but did not succeed in altering any votes.

- Ends

With inputs from Reuters

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