During a meeting with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the Oval Office, United States President Donald Trump dismissed renewed scrutiny of his connections to Jeffrey Epstein as “sort of a witch hunt,” instead redirecting attention to what he called a “treasonous conspiracy” by former President Barack Obama and other political rivals.
“The witch hunt that you should be talking about is they caught President Obama,” Trump said, referencing a controversial report from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard that challenged the U.S. intelligence community’s 2016 assessment of Russian election interference. “Obama was trying to lead a coup,” he added. “And it was with Hillary Clinton.”
Trump’s remarks marked a sharp escalation in his long-running campaign of political retribution, which has intensified since his return to office.
His latest broadside came as CNN published previously unseen photos showing Epstein attending Trump’s 1993 wedding to Marla Maples, reigniting questions about their past association.
Gabbard’s report, which alleged misconduct by Obama-era officials, directly contradicts the conclusions of a bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee investigation—whose members included now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio—that upheld the original assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to benefit Trump and harm Clinton.
The Senate report did not allege vote tampering but instead detailed a Russian influence campaign involving hacked documents and online disinformation.
Undeterred, Trump insisted Tuesday that he had been “too lenient” with Clinton and vowed to pursue legal action against his perceived enemies. “I let her off the hook, and I’m very happy I did, but it’s time to start after what they did to me,” he said. “Whether it’s right or wrong, it’s time to go after people. Obama’s been caught directly.”
He then named several high-profile targets for prosecution, including former FBI Director James Comey, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and former President Joe Biden. “It would be President Obama,” Trump declared. “He started it, and Biden was there with him, and Comey was there, and Clapper, the whole group was there.”
“He’s guilty,” Trump continued. “This was treason. This was every word you can think of.”
Over the past six months, the Trump administration has taken concrete steps to retaliate against political opponents and critics. These measures include stripping security details from former officials facing threats, revoking or threatening security clearances for dozens of others, and targeting media outlets deemed hostile. The administration has also investigated or dismissed federal employees accused of disloyalty and dismantled agencies viewed as ideologically liberal.
The push to revisit the 2016 Russia assessment began under CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who ordered a review criticizing Obama-era intelligence officials and singling out former CIA Director John Brennan for allegedly over-relying on the unverified Steele dossier.
Brennan has denied the accusation, and other officials have noted the dossier was excluded from the final intelligence report due to verification issues. Ratcliffe nonetheless called the process “corrupt” and referred it for criminal investigation.
Last week, Gabbard released a follow-up report alleging that Obama administration officials altered intelligence findings under political pressure. Her report claimed officials initially assessed Russia had not made serious efforts to breach voting systems but later shifted to conclude Russia sought to boost Trump and undermine Clinton.
However, Gabbard appeared to conflate separate intelligence judgments—U.S. agencies had found Russia did not manipulate vote counts but did wage an influence campaign through leaks and propaganda.
Gabbard has called for criminal probes into unnamed Obama-era officials, further fueling Trump’s demands for accountability.
