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India Today
8 minutes ago
- India Today
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 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 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 ELECTIONAccording 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 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 EPSTEINTrump, 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 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 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. - EndsWith inputs from ReutersTune InMust Watch
NDTV
22 minutes ago
- NDTV
Trump's Golden Dome Defense System Looks For Alternative To Musk's SpaceX
Washington: The Trump administration is expanding its search for partners to build the Golden Dome missile defense system, courting Project Kuiper and big defense contractors as tensions with Elon Musk threaten SpaceX's dominance in the program, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The shift marks a strategic pivot away from reliance on Musk's SpaceX, whose Starlink and Starshield satellite networks have become central to US military communications. It comes amid a deteriorating relationship between Trump and Musk, which culminated in a public falling-out on June 5. Even before the spat, officials at the Pentagon and White House had begun exploring alternatives to SpaceX, wary of over-reliance on a single partner for huge portions of the ambitious, $175 billion space-based defense shield, two of the sources said. Musk and SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment. After Reuters reported initially that SpaceX was a frontrunner to build parts of Golden Dome, Musk said on X that the company had "not tried to bid for any contract in this regard. Our strong preference would be to stay focused on taking humanity to Mars." Due to its size, track record of launching more than 9,000 of its own Starlink satellites, and experience in government procurement, SpaceX still has the inside track to assist with major portions of the Golden Dome, especially launch contracts, sources say. Project Kuiper, which has launched just 78 of a planned constellation of 3,000 low-earth orbit satellites, has been approached by the Pentagon to join the effort, signaling the administration's openness to integrating commercial tech firms into national defense infrastructure and going beyond traditional defense players. Jeff Bezos, Amazon's executive chairman, told Reuters in January that Kuiper would be "primarily commercial," but acknowledged "there will be defense uses for these [low-earth orbit] constellations, no doubt." A spokesperson for Project Kuiper declined to comment for this story. The Pentagon declined to comment. The White House did not respond to requests for comment. Golden Dome's ambitions mirror those of Israel's Iron Dome - a homeland missile defense shield - but a larger, more complex layered defense system requires a vast network of orbiting satellites covering more territory. In the search for more vendors for the satellite layers of Golden Dome, "Kuiper is a big one," a US official said. While SpaceX remains a frontrunner due to its unmatched launch capabilities, its share of the program could shrink, two of the people said. Officials have reached out to new entrants like rocket companies Stoke Space and Rocket Lab are gaining traction and will be able to bid on individual launches as the program matures, according to the US official. Later in the development of Golden Dome "each individual launch is going to get bid, and we have to actually give bids to other people," besides SpaceX, the official said. Need For Satellites There is an urgent need for more satellite production. Last year Congress gave Space Force a $13 billion mandate - up from $900 million - to buy satellite-based communication services in what was widely seen as one of many efforts to stimulate private sector satellite production. Amazon's Project Kuiper, a $10 billion initiative led by former Starlink managers dismissed by Musk for slow progress, Reuters has reported, has lagged behind SpaceX in deployment. But its potential defense applications - such as communications that could aid missile tracking - have drawn renewed interest as the administration prepares to allocate the first $25 billion tranche of funding authorized under Trump's sweeping tax and spending bill. Traditional defense giants Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and L3Harris are also in talks to support Golden Dome. L3Harris CFO Kenneth Bedingfield told Reuters in an interview the company has seen a surge in interest in its missile warning and tracking technologies, which are expected to play a key role in the system. Northrop, meanwhile, is pursuing several efforts including a space-based interceptor, a component that would enable missile strikes from orbit, Robert Flemming, the head of the company's space business, told Reuters in an interview. "Lockheed Martin is ready to support Golden Dome for America as a proven mission partner," Robert Lightfoot, president of Lockheed Martin Space, said in a statement. Golden Dome's initial outreach this spring invited smaller, newer Silicon Valley firms seen as nimbler, more sophisticated and potentially less expensive alternatives to the big defense firms to the table - but that was before the Musk-Trump feud upended that calculus. Several with close ties to Trump aside from SpaceX, including Palantir and Anduril - were considered early frontrunners to win big pieces of the $175 billion project. But the Musk-Trump feud has reshaped the competitive landscape. Musk recently launched the "America Party," a tech-centric, centrist political movement aimed at defeating Republicans who backed Trump's tax-and-spend agenda. Rapid Timeframe Trump launched the Golden Dome initiative just a week into his second term, pushing for rapid deployment. Space Force General Michael Guetlein, confirmed by the Senate on July 17, is set to lead the program with sweeping authority. Under a previously unreported directive from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Guetlein has 30 days from confirmation to build a team, 60 days to deliver an initial system design, and 120 days to present a full implementation plan, including satellite and ground station details, two people briefed on the memo said. The inclusion of commercial platforms like Kuiper raises security concerns. Its satellites would need to be hardened against cyberattacks and electronic warfare, a challenge that has plagued even SpaceX's Starlink network. In May 2024, Elon Musk said SpaceX was spending "significant resources combating Russian jamming efforts. This is a tough problem." Beyond the technical and political challenges, Golden Dome could reshape global security dynamics. A fully operational space-based missile shield may prompt adversaries to develop new offensive capabilities or accelerate the militarization of space.
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First Post
38 minutes ago
- First Post
Trump alleges Obama committed treason as 2016 Russia probe claims resurface
Donald Trump accused Barack Obama of 'treason,' claiming, without evidence, that the former president led a conspiracy to sabotage his 2016 campaign. He also hinted at consequences for Obama-era officials over the Russia probe. read more Former US President Barack Obama and US President-elect Donald Trump speak at an event in Washington, D.C. on January 9, 2025. File image/ Reuters On Tuesday, President Donald Trump accused former President Barack Obama of 'treason,' without providing evidence, for leading an effort to falsely link him to Russia and undermine his 2016 presidential campaign. While Trump has regularly targeted Obama by name, he has not gone so far as to accuse his Democratic predecessor of criminal action since taking office in January. A representative for Obama did not respond immediately to a request for comment. During his remarks in the Oval Office, Trump seized on statements made by his intelligence head, Tulsi Gabbard, on Friday in which she threatened to bring Obama administration officials to the Justice Department for prosecution over an intelligence assessment of Russian influence in the 2016 election. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD She declassified documents and said the information she was releasing showed a 'treasonous conspiracy' in 2016 by top Obama administration officials to undermine Trump. 'It's there, he's guilty. This was treason,' Trump said on Tuesday. 'They tried to steal the election, they tried to obfuscate the election. They did things that nobody's ever imagined, even in other countries.' An assessment by the US intelligence community in 2017 concluded that Russia, using social media disinformation, hacking and Russian bot farms, sought to damage Democrat Hillary Clinton's campaign and bolster Trump. The assessment determined that the actual impact was likely limited and showed no evidence that Moscow's efforts actually changed voting outcomes. A 2020 bipartisan report by the Senate intelligence committee had found that Russia used Republican political operative Paul Manafort, the WikiLeaks website and others to try to influence the 2016 election to help Trump's campaign. Trump under pressure Trump has called the assessments a 'hoax' on many occasions. Trump has been reposting a fake video of Obama being arrested in handcuffs in the Oval Office on his Truth Social account in recent days. Following pressure from his conservative supporters to provide further details regarding Jeffrey Epstein, who committed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, Trump has been attempting to shift the focus to other matters. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Supporters of Epstein conspiracy theories have encouraged President Trump, who socialised with the disgraced billionaire in the 1990s and early 2000s, to disclose investigation files on the case. When questioned about Epstein in the Oval Office, Trump swiftly shifted his focus to attacking Clinton and Obama. 'The witch hunt that you should be talking about is they caught President Obama absolutely cold,' Trump said. 'What they did to this country, starting in 2016 but going up all the way to 2020 and the election, and they tried to rig the election, and they got caught, and there should be very severe consequences for that.' Trump suggested action would be taken against Obama and his former officials, calling the Russia investigation a treasonous act and the former president guilty of 'trying to lead a coup.' 'It's time to start, after what they did to me, and whether it's right or wrong, it's time to go after people. Obama has been caught directly,' he said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Democrats, responding to Gabbard last Friday, had called her accusations false and politically motivated. Democratic Congressman Jim Himes posted on X in response to Trump's Oval Office allegations against Obama: 'This is a lie. And if he's confused, the President should ask @SecRubio, who helped lead the bipartisan Senate investigation that unanimously concluded that there was no evidence of politicization in the intelligence community's behavior around the 2016 election.' Former Republican Senator Marco Rubio is now Trump's secretary of state. Obama has long been a target of Trump. In 2011 he accused then-President Obama of not being born in the United States, prompting Obama to release a copy of his birth certificate.
