President Donald Trump has openly called for the arrest of former President Barack Obama on bombshell claims of a coup plan tied to the 2016 U.S. presidential election. This unusual demand comes amidst charges by Trump and his administration that Obama and his national security staff hatched a years-long treasonous plan to undermine Trump’s election win and presidency.
The background of these charges is around assertions that the Obama administration manufactured or politicized information to wrongly depict Trump’s 2016 campaign as having links to Russia, which Trump and his supporters allege was a concerted attempt to delegitimize his triumph. Trump has charged Obama with treason for supposedly seeking to damage his administration and manipulate the will of the American people via intelligence manipulations.
The situation escalated in late July 2025 when Trump publicly ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate Obama after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, a Trump appointee and former Democratic congresswoman turned MAGA supporter, released declassified documents purportedly evidencing Obama’s involvement in this so-called "coup." Gabbard filed a criminal referral to the DOJ stating that Obama and his advisers devised a conspiracy to interfere with Trump’s election and administration.
On July 22, 2025, Trump upped his rhetoric during an Oval Office news session, blaming Obama without offering actual proof of treason and election subversion, declaring, "It’s there, he’s guilty... They attempted to steal the election... They did things that nobody’s ever imagined, even in other countries." He proceeded to assert that harsh repercussions should follow, presenting the problem as a question of justice for an alleged assault on American democracy.
Adding to the contentious nature of the argument, Trump shared AI-generated doctored videos and photos on his social media, portraying Obama being jailed in the Oval Office. These movies, which are manufactured, were disseminated extensively on sites like TikTok and reposted on Trump’s own social media accounts, stoking political divisiveness and disinformation.
The Obama administration and its officials have vigorously denied these charges. Spokespersons for Obama condemned the charges as "bizarre," "outrageous," and a "weak attempt at distraction." They reaffirmed that investigations, including a bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report from 2020, concluded that while Russia tried to influence the 2016 election, there was no successful manipulation of vote counts or direct collaboration by the Trump campaign, undercutting the thrust of Trump's allegations.
Legal and political analysts have regarded this incident as a dramatic increase in U.S. political divisiveness, with Trump using unfounded charges to strengthen his narrative of being the victim of a deep-state plot. Critics claim that such tactics violate democratic norms and potentially heighten tensions in American political life just as Trump’s administration confronts other obstacles, including requests for openness related to the Jeffrey Epstein case.
The Department of Justice's reaction to Trump’s demand is keenly monitored, since any criminal investigation of a former president would be a watershed in American political and legal history. So far, the DOJ has made no public confirmation of additional investigations based simply on these latest referrals and assertions, underlining the highly sensitive climate surrounding the matter.
The news story outlines a volatile and developing political crisis wherein President Donald Trump has called for former President Barack Obama’s arrest on grounds of treason and conspiracy related to the 2016 election, citing newly declassified intelligence and referrals from Trump’s director of national intelligence. The claims remain highly contested and are widely condemned by Obama’s team as unfounded and politically motivated, highlighting deep fissures in American politics in 2025.
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