Trump Envisions Jailing Obama

Time​ Magazine

5 days ago

Donald Trump, who openly campaigned in 2016 against Hillary Clinton on chants of 'lock her up' but was ultimately persuaded not to pursue her prosecution, now appears to be fantasizing about throwing his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, in jail. And his Administration is actively taking steps in that direction.
The current President shared on his Truth Social platform on Sunday a video from TikTok user @neo8171 that starts with a montage of Democratic politicians, including Obama, saying, 'No one is above the law,' to the tune of Luciano Michelini's 'Frolic' (made famous as the theme song of sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm). After about 40 seconds, the soundtrack changes to the Village People's 'Y.M.C.A.,' as apparently AI-generated video depicts Trump and Obama sitting in the Oval Office, and Federal Bureau of Investigations officers handcuffing Obama while Trump laughs. It ends with an AI-generated depiction of Obama pacing around a jail cell.
Trump also shared an AI-generated image attributed to X user @sirtemplemount that showed fake mugshots of Obama and officials from his Administration with the words 'The Shady Bunch.'
And the President shared a screenshot from X of user @Real_JaredMarsh, who responded to a clip of Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R, Fla.) saying on Fox News that 'there needs to be criminal prosecution and arrests.' Marsh posted, 'I agree with @RepLuna!' alongside an image of men being arrested outside the U.S. Capitol with the words 'Unless this happens, nothing will change' overlaid on the image.
Trump's posts come after his Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democrat turned MAGA Republican, on Friday announced that she was turning over evidence of an 'Obama Administration Conspiracy to Subvert Trump's 2016 Victory and Presidency' to the Department of Justice 'for criminal referral.'
'President Obama and his national security cabinet members manufactured and politicized intelligence to lay the groundwork for what was essentially a years-long coup against President Trump,' she alleged in a DNI press release.
What Tulsi Gabbard claims about Obama officials
Gabbard's office declassified a number of documents and released a memo outlining a timeline of alleged information 'manipulated and withheld' by the U.S. Intelligence Community beginning in 2016. In a series of social media posts summarizing her findings, she said the documents 'detail a treasonous conspiracy by officials at the highest levels of the Obama White House to subvert the will of the American people and try to usurp the President from fulfilling his mandate.'
The announcement backs Trump's longtime contention that he was the victim of a 'witch hunt,' which the President has previously dubbed the 'Russiagate hoax.'
Gabbard's announcement comes after Fox News reported earlier this month that the FBI is investigating its former director James Comey as well as former CIA director John Brennan for possible false statements to Congress after current CIA director John Ratcliffe released a review in June that was critical of a 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment that claimed Russia attempted to influence the 2016 election to help Trump.
Intelligence agencies in 2017 had assessed that 'Russia's goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency.'
Gabbard alleges that Obama Administration officials leaked false statements to media outlets and manufactured information for the 2017 assessment. Gabbard's office asserts that there was 'no indication of a Russian threat to directly manipulate the actual vote count,' though the earlier assessment never suggested that.
Gabbard's report is based on newly-declassified intelligence assessments and internal communications prior to the 2016 election that assessed that Russia and other foreign adversaries would 'probably not' try to influence the election through cyber means, as well as emails concerning an intelligence assessment at Obama's request after Trump's victory in November 2016 into 'tools Moscow used and actions it took to influence the 2016 election.' The Obama Administration openly accused Russia of trying to influence the election through hacking campaigns, including of the DNC, in October 2016, and it was publicly reported in early 2017 that Obama Administration officials had scrambled to preserve evidence related to the then-ongoing probe of Russian interference and potential coordination with Trump and his associates.
'This was politicized intelligence that was used as the basis for countless smears seeking to delegitimize President Trump's victory, the years-long Mueller investigation, two Congressional impeachments, high level officials being investigated, arrested, and thrown in jail, heightened US-Russia tensions, and more,' Gabbard's office said.
'It's worse than even politicization of intelligence. It was manufactured intelligence that sought to achieve President Obama and his team's objective, which was undermining President Trump's presidency and subverting the will of the American people. So, yes, next week we will be releasing more detailed information about how this took place and the extent to which this information was sought to be hidden,' Gabbard told Fox News on Sunday, in a clip that was also shared by Trump. 'For the American people to have any sense of trust in the integrity of our democratic republic, accountability, action, prosecution, indictments for those who were responsible for trying to steal our democracy is essential for us to make sure that this never happens to our country again.'
How Republicans have reacted
Fox News called Gabbard's announcement 'a potential blockbuster scandal,' and Trump shared the clip alongside the latter two words in all caps. A number of Trump allies have also supported Gabbard's declassifications and call for prosecutions.
'This is potentially Watergate-esque,' Rep. Pat Fallon (R, Texas) told the right-leaning news network over the weekend.
'Makes Watergate look like amateur hour,' Rep. Pat Harrigan (R, N.C.) posted on X.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt boosted Gabbard's posts on X, writing 'Every American should read this.'
White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller said in a post on X that Gabbard 'exposed the startling depths of a seditious coup against the Republic. The forces behind this coup have done and will do anything to protect their grasp on illegal & illegitimate power. Do not underestimate their capabilities or depravities. But WE are stronger.'
'These tyrants are finally being called out for what they've done,' Sen. Mike Lee (R, Utah) posted on X. 'The Russiagate hoax was a far more effective attack on our republic & our elections than any foreign adversary could have managed. Those who sold this lie to the American people became the very same villains they invented,' he added from his official account.
'The corruption runs deep in the Swamp. Thank goodness we have a President and administration committed to truth and accountability,' posted Rep. Troy Nehls (R, Texas).
'EVERYONE involved must be held to account,' Rep. Andy Biggs (R, Ariz.) posted. Added Rep. Greg Steube (R, Fla.): 'This is only the beginning. Much more will be revealed.'
How Democrats have reacted
Democrats have criticized the report as misleading and politically motivated. Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called the report 'baseless' and an attempt to rehash 'decade-old false claims about the Obama Administration.'
'Few episodes in our nation's history have been investigated as thoroughly as the Intelligence Community's warning in 2016 that Russia was interfering in the election,' Himes said in a statement. 'Every legitimate investigation, including the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee investigation, found no evidence of politicization and endorsed the findings of the 2016 Intelligence Community Assessment.'
Himes referred to a Republican-led Senate report in 2020 that agreed with the 2017 findings of Russian influence. That report was backed by now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio and found 'no evidence' of collusion between Trump and the Russian government in the 2016 election but did find 'irrefutable evidence of Russian meddling.' There have been several other reviews since 2017 that also backed the assessment. Even the CIA report last month that criticized the 2017 assessment as rushed and potentially biased did not dispute the assessment's conclusion that Russia favored Trump in the 2016 election.
Himes also seemed to suggest that the report is an effort to distract from controversy rocking the Trump Administration surrounding Trump's links to convicted sex offender and alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. 'It's a day that ends with 'y' and Donald Trump desperately wants to change the subject,' Himes said in his statement.
Himes told CBS News that he doubted any charges against Obama Administration officials would actually come, saying: 'They won't, because there's not a judge in the land—not a single judge—who will treat this with anything other than laughter that will be heard from the Atlantic to the Pacific.' Himes related the outrage Republicans are now ginning up among their supporters over alleged 'treason' to the conspiracy theories Republicans had previously fanned about Epstein before Trump and his Administration told them the case was closed and to move on. 'This is Epstein all over again.'
Read More: Why Trump Can't Put Out the Epstein Fire He Helped Ignite
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Community, told the New York Times: 'This is one more example of the Director of National Intelligence trying to cook the books.' He added that a March Intelligence Community report 'acknowledged that Russia's effort to meddle goes on. That was an assessment under [Gabbard's] watch.'
'Moscow probably believes information operations efforts to influence U.S. elections are advantageous, regardless of whether they affect election outcomes, because reinforcing doubt in the integrity of the U.S. electoral system achieves one of its core objectives,' the annual threat assessment had said.
'It is sadly not surprising that DNI Gabbard, who promised to depoliticize the intelligence community,' Warner said in a statement, 'is once again weaponizing her position to amplify the President's election conspiracy theories.'