Former President Barack Obama on Tuesday night issued a rare public statement denying what he called President Donald Trump’s “bizarre allegations” that he orchestrated the Russiagate investigation.
Earlier that day, Trump accused Obama of being the “ringleader” behind the Trump–Russia collusion narrative and demanded a criminal investigation, citing new claims that Obama-era officials allegedly “manufactured” intelligence to justify the probe.
“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,” Obama spokesman Patrick Rodenbush claimed in a statement. “But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one.”
“These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction,” Obama’s spokesman continued. “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.”
Rodenbush issued the statement on Obama’s behalf following the release of newly declassified documents by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. The documents, which Gabbard described as containing “overwhelming evidence,” allege that after Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, then-President Obama and his national security team orchestrated the foundation for the yearslong Trump–Russia collusion investigation.
Gabbard said the documents show that Obama administration officials “manufactured and politicized intelligence” to push the narrative that Russia was interfering in the 2016 election—even though intelligence community assessments at the time reportedly indicated otherwise.
“The new documents name Obama, top officials on his National Security Council, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan, national security advisor Susan Rice, Secretary of State John Kerry, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, among others,” Fox News reported.
On Monday, Gabbard submitted a criminal referral to the Justice Department based on the findings. DOJ officials declined to disclose further details about the individuals named in the referral.
Trump this week was asked about Gabbard’s criminal referral, and specifically, who he believed should be under criminal investigation, to which he replied: “President Obama. He started it.”
“And Biden was there with him, and Comey was there, and Clapper, the whole group was there. Brennan. They were all there in the room right here. This is the room,” Trump said from the Oval Office Tuesday during a meeting with the president of the Philippines. “It was President Obama. It was lots of people all over the place.”
Trump added that his administration has “all of the documents, and from what Tulsi told me, she’s got thousands of additional documents coming.”
“So President Obama, it was his concept — his idea,” Trump said Tuesday. “But he also got it from crooked Hillary Clinton — crooked as a $3 bill, and Hillary Clinton and her group, the Democrats, spent $12 million to Christopher Steele to write up a report that was a total fake report.”
Christopher Steele authored the now-discredited anti-Trump dossier, which was funded by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee via the law firm Perkins Coie. The dossier was later used as the basis for obtaining FISA warrants targeting former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
Despite being widely dismissed within the intelligence community as little more than “internet rumor,” top officials—including James Comey, Andrew McCabe, and John Brennan—allegedly advocated for its inclusion in the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment, Fox noted.
“It took two years to figure that out, but it came out that it was a total fake report — it was made-up fiction — and they used that,” Trump correctly pointed out. “The Steele report was a disaster — all lies, all fabrication, all admitted fraud.”