'Weak attempt at distraction': Obama offers rare rebuke on Trump's ‘treason' claims; Democrats call it Epstein diversion
Barack Obama
's office issued a rare public response to President
Donald Trump
's accusations of "treason" and election manipulation in 2016 and 2020.
"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.
But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one.
These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction," said Obama spokesperson Patrick Rodenbush, as quoted by NBC News.
This comes as Trump was questioned about Jeffrey Epstein but redirected the conversation alleging "criminality" by Obama. Trump stated that Obama had been directly implicated and claimed the actions in 2016 and 2020 were criminal at the highest level.
Read more:
Trump slams ex-US president; dodges Epstein question
Trump's assertions stemmed from claims by National Intelligence Director
Tulsi Gabbard
and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who suggested Obama administration officials had manipulated intelligence and undermined Trump's 2016 electoral victory.
Gabbard initiated a criminal referral to the Justice Department on Friday. At a subsequent meeting with congressional Republicans, Trump continued his criticism of Obama and others, calling them "vicious, horrible people."
by Taboola
by Taboola
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Promoted Links
Promoted Links
You May Like
This Could Be the Best Time to Trade Gold in 5 Years
IC Markets
Learn More
Undo
Rodenbush countered that the administration was misrepresenting information. He noted that recent documents did not contradict the established conclusion about Russian influence in the 2016 election, as confirmed by the 2020 bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report under then-Chairman Marco Rubio.
"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.
These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio," Rodenbush further said.
The controversy extends to various interpretations of a December 8, 2016, intelligence assessment regarding Russian cyber activities. Representative Gabbard alleges that documents demonstrate Russia did not seek to interfere in the 2016 election to benefit Donald Trump, contradicting multiple investigations that indicated otherwise.
'On December 8 2016, IC officials prepared an assessment for the President's Daily Brief, finding that Russia 'did not impact recent U.S. election results' by conducting cyber attacks on infrastructure. Before it could reach the President, it was abruptly pulled 'based on new guidance.' This key intelligence assessment was never published,' Gabbard wrote in a post.
The Obama administration did not assert that Russian cyberattacks affected the election results.
'I can assure the public that there was not the kind of tampering with the voting process that was of concern … the votes that were cast were counted — they were counted appropriately,' President Obama said from the White House, days after receiving the December 2016 brief referred to by Gabbard.
The Obama White House stated that Russia attempted to interfere in the campaign by leaking hacked documents and utilising bots and troll farms to disseminate misinformation about the election—a finding later supported by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation and a Senate report.
Meanwhile, Democratic officials characterised these developments as diversionary tactics. House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar suggested the focus on these matters was intended to deflect attention from the Epstein case.
Recent activities include Trump's social media posts targeting political opponents and the Justice Department's release of files concerning Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, alongside information about James Comey's investigation of Hillary Clinton's handling of classified information.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
5 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Trump warns immigration is ‘killing' Europe, urges leaders to ‘get act together'
US President Donald Trump on Saturday ramped up his rhetoric on immigration, claiming that it is 'killing' Europe and warned European leaders to take action or risk losing their continent. Speaking to reporters in Scotland after stepping off Air Force One, Trump said: 'On immigration, you better get your act together. You're not going to have Europe anymore. You got to get your act together.' 'You got to stop the horrible invasion that's happening to Europe, many countries in Europe.' Trump, whose own parents were European immigrants, his mother from Scotland and father of German descent, added that some leaders in Europe had resisted immigration pressures and should receive more recognition: 'Some [leaders] have not let it happen, and they're not getting the proper credit. I could name them right now, but I'm gonna embarrass other ones. This immigration is killing Europe.' .@POTUS in Scotland: 'On immigration, you better get your act together or you're not going to have Europe anymore … You got to stop this horrible invasion that's happening.' — Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 25, 2025 Trump also used the moment to highlight his hardline immigration stance in the United States, boasting about recent enforcement at the southern border. 'As you know, last month, we had nobody entering our country. We took out a lot of bad people that got there,' he said. Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has reintroduced aggressive immigration policies, including mass deportations and increased detentions. He has promised to launch the largest migrant deportation programme in US history, a plan that has drawn widespread criticism and sparked nationwide protests. The United Nations estimated in 2020 that Europe was home to roughly 87 million international migrants. Trump's comments came during a visit to Scotland, where he is expected to spend the weekend at his Turnberry golf resort before heading to Aberdeen to open a second golf course named in honour of his mother. He said he would meet with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during his European trip. According to Trump, the meeting with Starmer would be more of a celebration of an existing trade agreement. 'It's a great deal for both,' he said. Trump is also expected to meet Scottish First Minister John Swinney, who had endorsed Democratic candidate Kamala Harris during the 2024 US election.
Time of India
35 minutes ago
- Time of India
Trump's trip to Scotland as his new golf course opens blurs politics and the family's business
EDINBURGH: Lashed by cold winds and overlooking choppy, steel-gray North Sea waters, the breathtaking sand dunes of Scotland's northeastern coast rank among Donald Trump 's favorite spots on earth. "At some point, maybe in my very old age, I'll go there and do the most beautiful thing you've ever seen," Trump said in 2023, during his New York civil fraud trial, talking about his plans for future developments on his property in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category Cybersecurity Leadership MBA CXO MCA Project Management Design Thinking Others Data Science Degree PGDM Artificial Intelligence Data Analytics Operations Management Technology Management Product Management Healthcare Data Science others Digital Marketing Finance Public Policy healthcare Skills you'll gain: Duration: 10 Months MIT xPRO CERT-MIT xPRO PGC in Cybersecurity Starts on undefined Get Details At 79 and back in the White House , Trump is making at least part of that pledge a reality, landing in Scotland on Friday as his family's business prepares for the Aug. 13 opening of a new golf course bearing his name. Trump will be in Scotland until Tuesday, and plans to talk trade with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The Aberdeen area is already home to another of his courses, Trump International Scotland , and the Republican president is also visiting a Trump course near Turnberry, around 200 miles (320 kilometers) away on Scotland's southwest coast. Trump said upon arrival on Friday evening that his son is "gonna cut a ribbon" for the new course during his trip. Eric Trump also went with his father to break ground on the project back in 2023. Live Events Using a presidential overseas trip - with its sprawling entourage of advisers, White House and support staffers, Secret Service agents and reporters - to help show off Trump-brand golf destinations demonstrates how the president has become increasingly comfortable intermingling his governing pursuits with promoting his family's business interests. The White House has brushed off questions about potential conflicts of interest, arguing that Trump's business success before he entered politics was a key to his appeal with voters. White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers called the Scotland swing a "working trip." But she added Trump "has built the best and most beautiful world-class golf courses anywhere in the world, which is why they continue to be used for prestigious tournaments and by the most elite players in the sport." Trump family's new golf course has tee times for sale Trump went to Scotland to play his Turnberry course during his first term in 2018 while en route to a meeting in Finland with Russian President Vladimir Putin. But this trip comes as the new golf course is already actively selling tee times. "We're at a point where the Trump administration is so intertwined with the Trump business that he doesn't seem to see much of a difference," said Jordan Libowitz, vice president for the ethics watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "It's as if the White House were almost an arm of the Trump Organization." During his first term, the Trump Organization signed an ethics pact barring deals with foreign companies. An ethics frameworks for Trump's second term allows them. Trump's assets are in a trust run by his children, who are also handling day-to-day operations of the Trump Organization while he's in the White House. The company has inked many recent, lucrative foreign agreements involving golf courses, including plans to build luxury developments in Qatar and Vietnam, even as the administration negotiates tariff rates for those countries and around the globe. Trump's first Aberdeen course sparked legal battles Trump's existing Aberdeenshire course, meanwhile, has a history nearly as rocky as the area's cliffs. It has struggled to turn a profit and was found by Scottish conservation authorities to have partially destroyed nearby sand dunes. Trump's company also was ordered to cover the Scottish government's legal costs after the course unsuccessfully sued over the construction of a nearby wind farm, arguing in part that it hurt golfers' views. And the development was part of the massive civil case, which accused Trump of inflating his wealth to secure loans and make business deals. Trump's company's initial plans for his first Aberdeen-area course called for a luxury hotel and nearby housing. His company received permission to build 500 houses, but Trump suggested he'd be allowed to build five times as many and borrowed against their values without actually building any homes, the lawsuit alleged. Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump liable last year and ordered his company to pay $355 million in fines - a judgment that has grown with interest to more than $510 million as Trump appeals. Golfers-in-chief Family financial interests aside, Trump isn't the first sitting U.S. president to golf in Scotland. That was Dwight D. Eisenhower, who played in Turnberry in 1959. George W. Bush visited the famed course at Gleneagles in 2005 but didn't play. Many historians trace golf back to Scotland in the Middle Ages. Among the earliest known references to game was a Scottish Parliament resolution in 1457 that tried to ban it, along with soccer, because of fears both were distracting men from practicing archery - then considered vital to national defense. The first U.S. president to golf regularly was William Howard Taft, who served from 1909 to 1913 and ignored warnings from his predecessor, Teddy Roosevelt, that playing too much would make it seem like he wasn't working hard enough. Woodrow Wilson played nearly every day but Sundays, and even had the Secret Service paint his golf balls red so he could practice in the snow, said Mike Trostel, director of the World Golf Hall of Fame . Warren G. Harding trained his dog Laddie Boy to fetch golf balls while he practiced. Lyndon B. Johnson's swing was sometimes described as looking like a man trying to kill a rattlesnake. Bill Clinton, who liked to joke that he was the only president whose game improved while in office, restored a putting green on the White House's South Lawn. It was originally installed by Eisenhower, who was such an avid user that he left cleat marks in the wooden floors of the Oval Office by the door leading out to it. Bush stopped golfing after the start of the Iraq war in 2003 because of the optics. Barack Obama had a golf simulator installed in the White House that Trump upgraded during his first term, Trostel said. John F. Kennedy largely hid his love of the game as president, but he played on Harvard 's golf team and nearly made a hole-in-one at California's renowned Cypress Point Golf Club just before the 1960 Democratic National Convention. "I'd say, between President Trump and President John F. Kennedy, those are two of the most skilled golfers we've had in the White House," Trostel said. Trump, Trostel said, has a handicap index - how many strokes above par a golfer is likely to score - of a very strong 2.5, though he's not posted an official round with the U.S. Golf Association since 2021. That's better than Joe Biden's handicap of 6.7, which also might be outdated, and Obama, who once described his own handicap as an "honest 13." The White House described Trump as a championship-level golfer but said he plays with no handicap.
Time of India
42 minutes ago
- Time of India
Bihar: Jitan Ram Manjhi urges Chirag Paswan to remain aligned with NDA
Union Minister and HindustAwam Morcha (Secular) leader Jitan Ram Manjhi has urged fellow Union Minister Chirag Paswan to remain aligned with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and contribute to its strengthening following the latter's criticism of the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government over "detoriating" law and order situation in the State. Addressing reporters in Patna, Manjhi said, "We are in NDA. We have to help NDA. We wish him all the best. He should strengthen the NDA." Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category In a significant remark, Manjhi referred to Paswan's political stance in the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections and urged not to repeat confrontations like past. "If he does not adopt the 2020 policy, it will be a very good thing," said, Manjhi. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Glīd Secures $3.1 Million in pre-seed Funding to accelerate Its Autonomous Road-to-Rail Infrastructure Vision - TechBullion TechBullion Undo Highlighting the current importance of NDA at both the state and national levels, Manjhi asserted, "Today NDA has become necessary for the society and the country. Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar are doing all kinds of development. If someone opposes NDA, then I think he does not have good feelings towards the people of the state and the country and if work is being done to strengthen it, then we will appreciate it." Chirag Paswan had in his earlier remarks said that he is "saddened to support such a government," which is not able to curtail the rising crime rate. Live Events Paswan said he does believe that reports of incidents of rising crimes such as murders, looting and more are a "conspiracy" to defame the government ahead of the assembly elections. He also said that the responsibility ultimately lies with the state government itself to control law and order. "I also believe that these incidents are being carried out as a conspiracy to defame the government ahead of elections. But even then, the responsibility of controlling it lies with the administration. Either the administration is in collusion with it, or the administration has become completely useless, and now it is beyond their power to keep Bihar and Biharis safe," the Union Minister told reporters in Patna. "I request the Bihar government to take action on this matter in a timely manner. I feel ashamed that I am supporting such a government, under which crime has gotten out of control," he added. President of LJP (Ram Vilas), which is part of the ruling NDA alliance, said that it seems the Bihar government has "completely bowed down" in front of criminals, referencing the recent incident where a retired health department official was shot at by unknown assailants in Gaya district. Paswan said that if such incidents are curtailed, then it will create a frightening situation in the State. "The way there have been criminal incidents one by one, and the way the government has bowed its head down in front of criminals. It is true that the incident is as condemnable as embarrassing, and an arrest also happened. But why are such incidents like murder, loot, dacoit, rape, one after another, happening in Bihar? It looks like the government is totally unsuccessful in curtailing these incidents. If this keeps going on, then it will create a very frightening situation in our state," Paswan said.
