Barack Obama fired back Tuesday after Donald Trump accused him of treason and demanded his arrest, calling the claims “outrageous” and “nonsense” in a rare public rebuttal aimed at quashing what his team described as political theater.
Trump, speaking from the Oval Office, alleged Obama led a covert effort to derail the 2016 election by tying Trump’s campaign to Russian interference.
“This was treason, this was every word you could think of. They tried to steal the election. They tried to obfuscate the election,” Trump said, claiming Obama was the “leader of the gang” and warning of severe consequences.
BREAKING: Trump says Obama is guilty of treason.
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) July 22, 2025
Obama should immediately sue. pic.twitter.com/13gKQjETSd
The accusations came after Trump posted an AI-generated video on his social platform that falsely depicted Obama being arrested—an image that drew immediate backlash for spreading misinformation.
The renewed attack followed the release of a controversial report by the Director of National Intelligence.
The document, which lacked bipartisan support, alleged Obama and senior intelligence officials orchestrated a “coup” against Trump.
The claim has been widely rejected by the U.S. intelligence community, fact-checkers and multiple Senate investigations, including those led by Republicans.
Obama’s spokesperson, Patrick Rodenbush, issued a rare and sharply worded response, saying the former president’s office typically avoids responding to “the constant nonsense and misinformation,” but the latest claims were too “outrageous” to ignore.
Rodenbush labelled the allegations “bizarre” and a “weak attempt at distraction.”
He also noted that nothing in Gabbard’s report “undercuts the widely accepted conclusion” that Russia attempted to influence the 2016 election. However, it did not alter vote counts—a finding echoed by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, including reports led by Sen. Marco Rubio.
Obama’s team framed Trump’s accusations as a political smokescreen designed to deflect from mounting scrutiny over his administration’s handling of several ongoing investigations.