President Donald Trump said that former President Barack Obama “owes me big” for a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that grants immunity for presidential acts—but warned that those who worked in Obama’s administration aren’t afforded the same protections.
Trump, who won the sweeping ruling last year, accused Obama of treason and sedition for ordering a spy agency study on Russia’s suspected meddling in the 2016 race.
“It probably helps him a lot — the immunity ruling, but it doesn’t help the people around him at all. But it probably helps him a lot. He’s done criminal acts, there’s no question about it, but he has immunity. He owes me big. Obama owes me big,” Trump said.
Trump accused Obama of being the “leader of the gang” of officials who collaborated to misinform the public and spark investigations into Trump’s possible collusion with the Kremlin to defeat Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
The Russian collusion allegations spurred lengthy and leaking FBI and congressional investigations that occupied more than half of Trump’s first term in office.
According to an email published by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Obama ordered an intelligence review that concluded Russia acted to help Trump defeat Clinton.
However, Gabbard claims U.S. intelligence revealed that Russia anticipated Clinton to win and withheld embarrassing information on her for later publication.
Gabbard revealed at a White House briefing last week that she detailed “evidence” that she claimed “points to” Obama’s role in fueling a narrative of collusion between Trump and Russia in the wake of the 2016 election.
Gabbard sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department days earlier and accused the Obama administration of trying to “subvert President Trump’s 2016 victory and presidency.”
Gabbard stated on Sunday that whistleblowers have been coming forward after the release of documents and a memo that reveal the Obama administration’s efforts to undermine Trump following the 2016 election.
OOn Friday, Gabbard released documents and a memo in which she described what she called a “years-long coup” against Trump following his victory over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
SHe characterized the whistleblowers as individuals who were “disgusted” by the alleged “treasonous conspiracy” that was reportedly orchestrated by then-President Barack Obama in response to Clinton’s defeat, as noted by the Daily Caller.
“We have whistleblowers … coming forward now, after we released these documents because there are people who were around, who were working within the intelligence community who so disgusted by what happened, we’re starting to see some of them come out of the woodwork here because they, too, like you and I and the American people, want to see justice delivered,” Gabbard told “Sunday Morning Futures” host Maria Bartiromo.
“So we’re going to provide everything that we have, everything that we will continue to gather, to the Department of Justice for that direct intent and that direct purpose,” she said.
“There must be indictments. Those responsible, no matter how powerful they are or were at that time, no matter who was involved in creating this treasonous conspiracy against the American people, they all must be held accountable,” Gabbard continued.
The U.S. Department of Justice has formed a “strike force” to investigate the evidence made public by Gabbard regarding Obama and his top national security and intelligence officials’ alleged involvement in the origins of the Trump-Russia collusion narrative.
The Department of Justice announced Wednesday evening the formation of a “strike force” to investigate potential next legal steps resulting from Gabbard’s recent declassification of records indicating that Obama administration officials “manufactured” intelligence to create the narrative that then-candidate Donald Trump was colluding with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election.
The strike force is made up of teams of investigators and prosecutors who focus on “the worst offenders engaged in fraudulent activities, including, chiefly, health care fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, money laundering offenses, false statements offenses,” and more, according to the DOJ.