Obama responds to Trump’s coup claims, calls allegations unfounded

Former President Barack Obama speaks with President Donald Trump before the State Funeral Service for former President Jimmy Carter at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Jan. 9, 2025. (Photo: Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)

By Bashir Mbuthia
Wednesday, July 23, 2025

His accusations came in the wake of a report submitted last week by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, which implicated Obama and other high-ranking government officials from his administration in a "treasonous conspiracy," and called for their prosecution.

Former United States President Barack Obama has dismissed allegations levelled by incumbent Donald Trump that he is guilty of treason for allegedly attempting to orchestrate a coup following Trump's 2016 election victory by fabricating evidence of Russian interference.

Trump made the allegations during an address from the Oval Office on Tuesday, when he met Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, asserting that Obama was guilty of the alleged offence.

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His accusations came in the wake of a report submitted last week by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, which implicated Obama and other high-ranking government officials from his administration in a "treasonous conspiracy," and called for their prosecution.

When asked by a journalist who should be the primary focus of the criminal investigations proposed in Gabbard's report, Trump was blunt in his response.

"Based on what I read, and I read pretty much what you read, it would be President Obama. He started it, and [Joe] Biden was there with him. And [James] Comey [the former FBI director] was there, and [James] Clapper [the former director of national intelligence], the whole group was there," Trump said.

"The leader of the gang was President Obama. He is guilty; it's not a question. This was treason. It was every word that you could think of. They tried to steal the elections, if you look at those papers."

In a rare rebuttal on Wednesday, via a statement issued by his spokesperson Patrick Rodenbush, Obama rejected Trump's calls for his prosecution, calling the accusations entirely unfounded.

"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," the statement, seen by the Eastleigh Voice, reads.

"These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction."

The statement also took aim at Gabbard's report, with Rodenbush countering that it did nothing to change what experts already agree on about the 2016 election.

According to the report, the Obama administration allegedly pressured intelligence agencies to alter their findings on Russian interference in the 2016 election.

However, the report has been criticised for blending unrelated issues and misrepresenting facts in an attempt to undermine the intelligence community's 2017 assessment that Russia aimed to both assist Trump and harm Hilary Clinton.

It pointed to Obama's December 2016 presidential daily brief, which noted no evidence of Russian hacking into election systems, as proof of political interference, despite the assessment clearly stating that while Russia did not hack vote tallies, it did target and leak Democratic National Committee emails to hurt Clinton's campaign.

The findings were later confirmed in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's 2019 report and a bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee review led by Marco Rubio, Trump's current Secretary of State.

"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," the statement reads.