Barack Obama knocks Donald Trump for phony masculinity, urges men to back Kamala Harris

Stephanie Murray, Raphael Romero Ruiz and Sarah Lapidus, 

USA TODAY NETWORK
Sat, October 19, 2024 

Former President Barack Obama campaigns for Harris/Walz at the Cole and Jeannie Davis Sports Center on Oct. 18, 2024, in Tucson. Standing next to him is U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., who is running for the Senate.

TUCSON – Barack Obama cast his White House successor as an out-of-touch elitist who promotes the wrong kind of masculinity, during a Friday stop in battleground Arizona, as he appealed directly to the young men whom Kamala Harris needs to win over to become the first woman elected president next month.

“I have to say, I've noticed this, especially with some men who think Trump's behavior, the bullying and the putting people down, acting all-pretend-tough guy, that somehow that’s a sign of strength,” Obama said. “I am here to tell you that is not what strength is. Never has been.”

Obama stumped for Harris in Tucson on Friday, boosting the Democratic nominee to some 7,000 people in the final stretch of the presidential race.

Obama encouraged Arizonans to cast their ballots early during a 45-minute speech at the Cole and Jeannie Davis Sports Center at the University of Arizona.

Former President Donald Trump has a narrow lead over Harris in swing-state Arizona, which the GOP nominee carried in 2016 but lost in 2020. President Joe Biden won by fewer than 11,000 votes four years ago, and GOP gains in voter registration and a polling slump with young men of color could make winning here even more challenging for Harris now.

Obama sharply criticized Trump, painting him as a self-centered con man who doesn’t have concrete plans for the nation, using Trump’s debate stage blunder against him when the Republican nominee said he had “concepts of a plan” for health care.

“I understand why people are looking to shake things up. I get why sometimes folks are frustrated with politics. I am sometimes frustrated with politics, so I get it. What I cannot understand is why anyone would think that Donald Trump will shake things up in a way that is good for you,” Obama said.

Young men of color are a significant part of who is driving Trump’s polling advantage in Arizona. Trump is ahead of Harris among Latino men under the age of 50, public polling shows. The vice president still leads with young Black men, but she is underperforming other Democrats among that demographic.

Obama is one of the best messengers to reach that group, according to a USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll. Just over half of Hispanic voters say Obama’s endorsement matters to them, a survey found earlier this year.

Before they took the stage, Obama said he and U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., who is running for the Senate, spoke with a “remarkable” group of Latino men. Obama said he encouraged them to “have those conversations” and talk to people who are thinking about voting for Trump. He specifically mentioned the economy and immigration, two issues that polls show are priorities for young men.

“If somebody says ‘Well, I’m thinking about voting for Donald Trump because I remember the economy being pretty good,’” Obama said. “Say, 'Well, what is exactly Donald Trump’s plan for high prices?' Just ask them. If they don’t, you tell them he’s got concepts of a plan and it don’t make sense.”

Obama, who mentioned Trump by name nearly three dozen times, according to a rough transcript, also questioned the 78-year-old’s mental competence. The comments came months after Biden, 81, ended his reelection campaign over concerns about his age.

“You would be worried if your grandfather was acting like this,” Obama said.

He pointed to a recent town hall where Trump stopped taking questions from the crowd and turned the event into a makeshift DJ set, standing onstage and listening to tunes such as Sinéad O'Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” and “Y.M.C.A.” by the Village People.

“Can you imagine if I did that? Can you imagine if Ruben did that?” Obama asked. “Our playlist would probably be better.”

At one point, he asked the crowd if they thought Trump had ever changed a diaper or a tire. He also knocked him for manufacturing Trump-branded Bibles in China.

Obama is one of the most popular figures in the Democratic Party, but he never carried Arizona as a presidential candidate. Obama lost the 2008 presidential race here to home state Sen. John McCain by 8 percentage points and lost again to Republican Mitt Romney in 2012 by 9 percentage points.
Obama: Trump \'didn\'t solve\' immigration

The 44th president took aim at the Trump campaign's plans for mass deportations and the use of immigrant communities as scapegoats for the problems facing the country.

“It doesn't matter what the issue is, housing, health care, education, paying the bills. He'll blame immigrants,” Obama said. “He wants you to believe that if you let him round up whoever he wants and ship them out, all your problems will be solved.”

Obama said there are “real problems” at the border but acknowledged that America has historically been a nation of immigrants.

“We were built on immigrants looking for a better life,” he said. “We also have to make sure that the system works the way it was supposed to.”

He criticized Trump’s attack on Harris’ time as VP and rebutted by reminding the crowd that Trump was also in the White House for four years.

“Why didn't he actually solve the problem when he was in power? Why was the number of undocumented immigrants basically the same when he left office as when he took office?” Obama said.

During the first full month of the Trump administration, February 2017, the number of migrants apprehended in between ports of entry at the Southwestern border was about 23,000, according to Customs and Border Protection data. The numbers from the administration’s last full month, December 2020, show that CBP arrested about 74,000 migrants.

A number of factors, including the global COVID-19 pandemic, contributed to an increase in people coming to the border. In an operational update from CBP in January 2021, the agency acknowledged the growing number of migrants attempting to cross the Southwest border, with an average of 3,000 arrests a day that same month.

Obama blamed Trump’s lack of a plan to tackle the issues faced at the border, poking fun at the “concept of a plan” comment the former president made earlier this year during the presidential debate in reference to the Affordable Care Act.

Obama also blamed Trump for killing the bipartisan border bill that he said would have helped fix the immigration system.

“Donald Trump deliberately lobbied against it and told Republicans don't vote for it because he figured that if you passed it, he would not be able to engage in the same kind of fearmongering that he's been doing,” Obama said.

\'It was my economy,\' Obama says

Obama acknowledged voter frustrations with the price of groceries and gas, saying that prices are too high and “it hurts.”

But he threw cold water on the idea that Trump had a better handle on the economy as president.

“It was good, because it was my economy that I gave him,” said Obama, who took office at the height of the 2008 financial crisis. “I spent the previous eight years cleaning up the mess that Republicans had left me.”

Obama criticized Trump for giving tax cuts to “to people who did not need one,” which he said drove up the national deficit.

He said Trump spent the next four years giving tax cuts to the wealthy and warned that Trump would do the same if elected again.
Abortion on the ballot in Arizona

Obama spoke about abortion, saying while he respects views on both sides of the debate, the decision to have an abortion should be made by the woman who is impacted by the choice.

“If we believe in freedom, then we should at least agree that such a deeply personal decision should be made by the woman whose body is involved,” he said.

He criticized Trump for adding three of the U.S. Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade. As Obama spoke, boos erupted from the audience.

Arizonans will have a chance to vote on the issue of abortion this fall, Obama noted. Proposition 139, the abortion measure, would preserve the right to abortion in the state constitution. Obama urged the public to vote yes on the ballot measure.

“Let’s be clear about what’s at stake here. If you send Ruben Gallego to the Senate, he will vote to restore the reproductive freedom of women to women,” Obama said, adding that if Congress passes such a bill, Harris would sign it.
Obama pays homage to 2008 White House opponent McCain

Obama differentiated Trump from Republicans like “my friend” John McCain, a beloved figure in Arizona.

McCain was a senator who served Arizona for more than 30 years before he died in 2018. He was well known for his service as a U.S. Navy pilot and his time as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War.

Although McCain was conservative and ran for president against Obama in 2008, he believed in “honest arguments” and hearing other people’s views, Obama said, adding that McCain also avoided demonizing his political opponents.

Obama contended that values respected by people like John McCain have been set aside in Trump’s rise in politics.

He recalled when McCain came to his defense during a campaign rally in the 2008 presidential race when a woman in the audience said she didn't trust Obama and falsely said he was "an Arab."

“He said … 'I have a lot of disagreements with Senator Obama, but I served with him. He's a good man. He's an honorable man. He's a patriotic American,'” Obama recalled, noting that McCain was a man of character.

Obama boosts down-ballot Democrats

Obama went out of his way to praise Gallego, the Democrat running for Senate against Trump-endorsed Republican Kari Lake. Gallego introduced Obama onstage and sat beside him for the duration of his speech.

Before Obama came onstage, some of Harris’ most prominent Arizona supporters warmed up the rally crowd.

Supporters chanted “Gabby, Gabby, Gabby” when hometown former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and Sen. Mark Kelly, whom Harris considered for her running mate, appeared.

Giffords reflected on the 2011 assassination attempt that nearly took her life and praised Biden for checking on her as she recovered. Then, she turned to the Democratic nominee.

“My friend Kamala will be a great president,” Giffords said.

Tucson Mayor Regina Romero also spoke about the 2011 shooting and Obama’s memorial speech at the University of Arizona in the wake of the tragedy. Six people died and 13 people were injured.

“He offered comfort as we tried to heal from a mass shooting in our midst,” Romero said. “He understands what it means to be a leader.”

Others addressed Arizona’s status as one of a handful of states that could decide the 2024 election. Arizona has 11 votes in the Electoral College.

Arizona Democratic Party Chair Yolanda Bejarano said, “All eyes are on Arizona this election.”

“We are a battleground district in a battleground state. Votes from southern Arizona will be the key to holding the presidency, keeping the Senate and flipping the U.S. House. So no pressure, folks,” said Kirsten Engel, the Democrat challenging incumbent GOP Rep. Juan Ciscomani in southern Arizona’s 6th Congressional District.

To narrow the gap between herself and Trump, Harris has come to Arizona twice in the past month and is sending plenty of high-profile surrogates to court voters here.

Former President Bill Clinton, who turned Arizona blue for the first time in more than a generation when he won in 1996, will be in the state on Wednesday.

On the other side of the aisle, Trump was in Arizona on Sunday for a rally. The former Republican president has also dispatched surrogates such as House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., to the state in recent weeks.

Seeing Obama on the stump was a draw for many attendees in Tucson on Friday. Supporters lined up hours before the event began. Several people in the crowd sought medical attention once they got inside.

William Coleman, 29, attended the event with Large Alexander, 18, and Denise Williams, 19, who only recently became interested in politics and wanted to see Obama in person.

Coleman wanted to see firsthand how many Harris supporters are in their community.

“Social media, Twitter makes me nervous. Going on there right now, and it's just so far-right. It's kind of scary, (they will) put up polls on Twitter of Kamala versus Trump and (how) quickly Trump will go up (in the poll). So I'm like, is that really how people really feel?” Coleman said.

Alexander recently turned 18 and will be a first-time voter this election cycle. They described feeling nervous to go and cast their vote but would be going in order to support the abortion ballot measure.

What polls, odds and historians say: Who is winning the 2024 presidential election?

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Barack Obama campaigns for Kamala Harris in Tucson: What to know

“You would be worried if your grandpa was acting like this": Obama pokes at Trump's "word salad"

Griffin Eckstein
Fri, October 18, 2024 a

Barack Obama Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

Former President Barack Obama had a lot to say about his successor Donald Trump’s age during a Friday campaign stop for Kamala Harris in Arizona.

The Democratic ex-president lobbed an attack at the 78-year-old's physical and mental fitness for office.

“Along with his intentions, there is also a question of his competence,” Obama pointed out. “He’s giving two, two-and-a-half-hour speeches. Just word salads. You have no idea what he’s talking about. He’s talking about Hannibal Lecter.” 

Concerns over the Trump’s physical and mental health have piled up over the last week. The Republican candidate cancelled several appearances and report claimed  his campaign admitted Trump was too “exhausted” to maintain a rigorous campaign schedule.

Obama pointed to Trump's apparent exhaustion and on-stage confusion during his speech in Arizona.

“You would be worried if your grandpa was acting like this!” Obama told the crowd.

The former president also tossed a barb at a Trump town hall on Monday, during which the candidate paused questions to bop along to his playlist for nearly 40 minutes.

“He just decided, you know what, I’m gonna stop taking questions and then he’s swaying to "Ave Maria" and "YMCA" for about half an hour,” Obama said. “Folks are standing there not sure what’s happening. Can you imagine if I did that?”

Obama's remarks are part of an all-out assault on Trump's health from the Harris campaign. The vice president openly wondered if Trump was up for four more years during a campaign stop on Friday.

“If you're exhausted on the campaign trail, it raises real questions about whether you are fit for the toughest job in the world,” she said.

REST IN POWER

Barack Obama’s beloved step-grandmother, a Muslim and philanthropist, dies in Kenya at 99

The family matriarch and celebrated philanthropist was open to all faiths, religious leaders here have said.

FILE - In this Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012, file photo, Sarah Obama, center, step-grandmother of then U.S. President Barack Obama, walks back to her house after speaking to the media in the garden of her home in the village of Kogelo, western Kenya. Sarah Obama, the matriarch of Barack Obama's Kenyan family, has died, relatives and officials confirmed Monday, March 29, 2021 but did not disclose the cause of death. She was at least 99 years old. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

March 29, 2021

By 

Fredrick Nzwili

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — Sarah Onyango Obama, the step-grandmother of former U.S. President Barack Obama, died Monday (March 29) at the age of 99, only 23 days away from her 100th birthday. The family matriarch and celebrated philanthropist was a Muslim but open to all faiths, religious leaders here have said.

“I had visited her several times in Kogelo. She was always open to us and encouraged the faiths to work for peace and unity. Although she was a Muslim, she was very welcoming,” said the Rev. Joachim Omollo, a Roman Catholic priest in the archdiocese of Kisumu where she lived all her life. Despite not having formal schooling herself or being able to read, the cleric said Mrs. Obama had a vision to educate and feed the less fortunate children in society. 

Fondly known as Mama Sarah, she suffered a stroke in September and died while undergoing treatment at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital in the lakeside city of Kisumu. She was the last living grandparent of former President Obama.

“My family and I are mourning the loss of our beloved grandmother,” the former president tweeted along with a younger picture of himself with Mrs. Obama. “We will miss her dearly, but we’ll celebrate with gratitude her long and remarkable life.”

 

Sheikh Musa Ismail Haji, the chairman of Kisumu Muslim Association, said Mrs. Obama, the third wife of President Obama’s paternal grandfather, will be buried tomorrow morning (March 30) according to Muslim rites.

“She did not die of COVID-19 related issues. We want to clarify that she has been ailing for some time,” Haji told journalists. This had followed speculations after some people were seen disinfecting a ward and a room where the body had been kept in the hospital.

Kenya’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta, mourned Mrs. Obama as an icon of family values and a philanthropist.

“We have lost a strong virtuous woman. A matriarch who held together the Obama family,” said Kenyatta. “She was a loving and celebrated philanthropist who graciously shared the little she had with the less fortunate.”

From her home in Nyang’oma Kogelo in Siaya County, Mrs. Obama carried out charity work, helping feed and educate hundreds of orphans. She also took care of widows through the California-headquartered Mama Sarah Obama Foundation. Through a non-governmental organization known as the Safeguard Orphans and Widows Organization (SAWO), she supported groups mainly of women and children orphaned by HIV and AIDS.

Her Sarah Obama Community Library recently went digital and partnered with Worldreader to deliver 7,000 e-books to the rural area.

Mrs. Obama became famous in 2006 after President Obama, then a U.S. senator for the state of Illinois and celebrity in Kenya, visited her in her rural home. During his second visit to Kenya as a sitting U.S. president, Obama met her in Nairobi. He later visited again during the summer of 2018. Obama’s election sent hundreds of tourists to her home village.

During 2008 election campaigns, Mrs. Obama defended President Obama against allegations that he was a Muslim and was born in Kenya, according to the BBC.

Mrs. Obama was born in 1922 in a village near Lake Victoria.

America's Real Conservative Choice For President

Much has been made about Barack Obama being a socialist and a Marxist by the dwindling white power base that is the decrpit Republican Party. But the reality is that tommorow America will have a choice between a real conservative President and a Republican. That choice of course is Barack Obama.

For conservatives, Obama represents a sliver of hope. McCain represents none at all. The choice turns out to be an easy one.

His politics of unity; the third way, his appeal to Americans that they need to take personal responsibility for their families and their neighbours, his rise to power as an example of American meritocracy, his appeal to hard work, and a fair share for all, are traditional American conservative values, indeed they are the values of bourgoise enlightment exemplified by Freemasonry. His are the values of both Abraham Lincoln and FDR, not Ronald Reagan. After all prior to Regans unholy alliance of neo-cons, paleo-cons and evangelicals, conservatism was really just an outgrowth of 'classical liberalism'.

His endorsement by Colin Powell, as well as by other leading Republican's and conservatives such as Chris Buckley, shows that Obama's polics are more closely aligned to 'tradtional American values' than those of the evangelical right wing that hijacked the party of Goldwater.

And his promise to expand the war in Afghanistan means that he and Harper have something in comon despite the difference in their party labels. And Obama's Green Plan will coincide with the one that is still to be unvieled by the Harpocrites.


A Conservative For Obama
Ronald T. Wilcox
I'm a conservative. I've spent my money and my time in support of Republican candidates. I also support Barack Obama for president.
Modern conservatism is deeply rooted in ideas and political philosophy, in rational discourse and pragmatism. John Stuart Mill matters to conservatives.
Conservatives used to ask the tough questions and did not accept simplistic solutions. That is why it is deeply disappointing to me, both personally and professionally, that John McCain has run a campaign that is so antithetical to rational discourse about public policy. His campaign has been about glib answers to complex problems. His choice for vice president was political malpractice.
He has catered to a wing of the Republican Party that believes everything will be all right--if only the government gets out of the way. No matter the problem, that is the only acceptable solution. To suggest that research about or thoughtful analysis of a situation might, in some cases, point in a different direction is apostasy.
For these Republicans, simply the act of doing policy analysis must mean that you are a liberal. They know that real Republicans, and real men, don't need to think things through. I do not respect these people. They have dragged a proud movement that had much to offer our country down into the mud of ignorance.
And yet the reason I now support Obama is only partially due to McCain's decision to embrace this base form of populism. It also stems from a growing respect for Obama's thoughtfulness, which reveals itself when he's faced with difficult questions. I do not agree with all elements of Obama's tax policy, but I certainly get the impression he has thought about it a whole lot more than McCain.

The attraction of Obama to Sullivan and other conservatives is not surprising. In fact, their support is consistent with the constructive wing of the philosophy of conservatism. Those stuck in the world of divisional politics can be baffled by this. How, they ask, can people who admire Reagan and Thatcher also have time for Obama?Aside from his positive message of unity, there are a number of things concerning Obama which appeal to conservatives, not least his appreciative attitude towards traditions and his understanding of the importance of learning from history. In her ambitious New Yorker profile of Obama published last May, Larissa Macfarquhar writes that Obama was critical of his parents and grandparents for breaking up from their respective communities and moving to other towns and countries. They allowed themselves to be seduced by the American dream of individualism and mobility, something which to Obama seems "credulous and shallow." To Obama, the abandonment of their surroundings in Kenya and Kansas to start anew somewhere else seemed, writes Macfarquhar, "a destructive craving for weightlessness." Freedom has a price, and this is shattered communities and loneliness.

Many traditional conservatives (not the neo-con subspecies) are embarrassed by George Bush and are looking for a way out of the foreign and domestic policy nightmare that he has engineered. They also understand that John McCain would be more of the same or even worse. There is a lively discussion of Barack Obama that is taking place both in the blogosphere and in the media directed at a conservative audience, and much of the discourse is surprisingly receptive to the idea that Obama, though a liberal, could bring about genuine change that will benefit the country. A recent article by Boston University professor and former army officer Andrew Bacevich appeared in The American Conservative magazine and is available on the internet at www.amconmag.com. It is entitled "The Case for Obama" and makes the point that Obama is a candidate that is certainly no conservative, but he is the only real hope to get out of Iraq and also avoid wars of choice in the future. Bacevich rightly sees the Iraq war and its consequences as a truly existential issue for the United States, one that should be front and center for voters in November. Any more adventures of the Iraq type will surely bankrupt the country and destroy what remains of the constitution. Bacevich also notes that the election of John McCain, candidate of the neoconservatives and the war party, would guarantee an unending series of preemptive wars as U.S. security doctrine and would validate the disastrous decisions to invade Iraq and wage an interminable global war on "terrorists." Electing Obama instead would be as close as one could come to making a definitive judgment on the folly of Iraq and everything that it represents, a judgment that is long overdue. Many conservatives would agree that the Obama commitment to leave Iraq is the right way to go and long to return to the days when America only went to war when a vital interest was threatened.




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Obama Roasts Trump for Everything From Selling Bibles to Needing a Diaper at Pittsburgh Rally 

Sharon Knolle
Thu, October 10, 2024 



Barack Obama laid into fellow former President Donald Trump so thoroughly on Thursday that more than one X user quipped, “I’d like to report a murder.“

Obama, speaking at a rally in Pittsburgh, ticked off a long list of reasons why voters should reject Trump and vote for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris next month.

He disparaged “the constant attempts to sell you stuff” including gold sneakers, a $100,000 watch and the Trump Bible. “Who does that?” asked Obama with an incredulous shrug.

“You know, he wants you to buy the word of God, Donald Trump edition. Got his name right there next to Matthew and Luke,” he said of Trump’s “God Bless the USA Bibles,” which, it was reported this week, were printed in China. They are priced at $59.99 each.


The 44th president continued to blast the 45th, recalling his shock at finding out how much diapers cost after his oldest daughter Malia was born. “Do you think Donald Trump ever changed a diaper?,” he asked about the father of five.

One attendee shouted, “His own!”

Obama admitted with a laugh, “I almost said that, but I decided I should not say it.”

Trump was dubbed “Diaper Don” by the media in 2020 over reports that he wore adult diapers while filming the reality competition “The Apprentice.”

Trump supporters not only shrugged at the suggestion when it resurfaced during Trump’s tax fraud trial earlier this year, but proudly began wearing the absorbent underwear themselves at campaign events and carrying signs that read “real men wear diapers.”

Obama also blasted Trump for taking credit for the state of the economy when he took office in 2021. “I remember that economy when he first came in being pretty good. Yeah, it was pretty good, because it was my economy. It wasn’t something he did. I spent eight years cleaning up the mess that the Republicans had left me,” he said.

Watch a clip from the rally in the video above, and click through to @Acyn’s X account for more.

The post Obama Roasts Trump for Everything From Selling Bibles to Needing a Diaper at Pittsburgh Rally | Video appeared first on TheWrap.


An emotional Obama makes his harshest case yet against Trump at Pittsburgh rally

Gregory Krieg and Edward-Isaac Dovere

CNN
Thu, October 10, 2024 


Former President Barack Obama on Thursday delivered his most personal, furious indictment yet of Donald Trump and a Republican Party he said was in thrall to a man who he believes had, over the last week, violated the trust of Americans devastated by a pair of catastrophic hurricanes.

“The idea of intentionally trying to deceive people in their most desperate and vulnerable moments – my question is, when did that become OK?” Obama said, pointing to Trump’s lies about the federal government withholding assistance to hard-hit “Republican areas” or “siphoning off aid to give to undocumented immigrants.”

When a cheer rose up, he sharply quieted the room.

“I’m not looking for applause right now!” Obama said, his voice vibrating with emotion, before he asked Republicans and conservatives allied with Trump, “When did that become OK? Why would we go along with that?”



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Obama, addressing a buzzing crowd in Pittsburgh, drew sharp contrasts on policy and character – ripping Trump and talking up Harris on both fronts – and cast his successor as the mascot for a dangerous and increasingly nasty version of the country. Obama in past campaigns has relished mocking and criticizing Trump, but his speech and delivery on Thursday were stinging and unusually visceral.

“If you had a family member who acted like (Trump), you might still love them, but you’d tell ‘em, ‘You got a problem,’ and you wouldn’t put him in charge of anything,” Obama said. “And yet, when Donald Trump lies or cheats, or shows utter disregard for our Constitution, when he calls POWs ‘losers’ or fellow citizens ‘vermin,’ people make excuses for it.”

Turning his attention to voters who have expressed concern about Trump’s potential return to the White House and others who might not be paying close attention to the campaign, Obama issued a blunt call to action.

“Whether this election is making you feel excited or scared, or hopeful or frustrated, or anything in between, do not just sit back and hope for the best. Get off your couch and vote. Put down your phone and vote. Grab your friends and family and vote,” Obama said. “Vote for Kamala Harris.”

Obama also sought to push back against an argument that has been at the core of Trump’s campaign: That he represents a departure from the stale status quo.

“I get it why people are looking to shake things up. I mean, I am the ‘hopey-changey’ guy. I understand people feeling frustrated and feeling we can do better,” Obama said. “What I cannot understand is why anybody would think that Donald Trump will shake things up in a way that is good for you.”

Throughout his speech, Obama described Trump as uniquely greedy and duplicitous.

Trump’s tax plan, he said, was a giveaway to “to billionaires and big corporations.”

Trump’s pledge to impose harsh tariffs on foreign trade, Obama said, amounted to a glorified “sales tax” that would cost the average family thousands of dollars.

Trump’s claim to having guided a robust economy, he fumed, was ahistorical nonsense.

“Yeah, it was pretty good (when Trump took office in 2017) – because it was my economy,” Obama said. “It wasn’t something he did. I had spent eight years cleaning up the mess that the Republicans had left me the last time. So just in case everybody has a hazy memory, he didn’t do nothing except those big tax cuts.”

Trump’s promises, Obama concluded, were either outrageously false or dangerously simple.

“If you challenge Trump to elaborate and enumerate his ‘concepts,’ he will fall back on one answer,” Obama said. “Doesn’t matter what the issue is, housing, health care, education, paying the bills – their only answer is to blame immigrants.”

Obama came onto the stage at the Harris rally having spoken to a smaller group of voters late in the afternoon during a surprise stop at a local Harris campaign office. His message there was also pointed – but directed at Black men.

The lack of energy some see around Harris’ campaign, he said, “seems to be more pronounced with the brothers.”

“You’re thinking about sitting out or supporting somebody (in Trump) who has a history of denigrating you, because you think that’s a sign of strength, because that’s what being a man is? Putting women down?” Obama said. “That’s not acceptable.”

The problem, he suggested, was less complicated than some are making it out to be – and that it often comes down to sexism.

“You’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses, I’ve got a problem with that,” Obama said. “Because part of it makes me think – and I’m speaking to men directly – part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that.”

As CNN reported, Harris had been focused on turning out Black men even before she took over as the Democratic nominee, trying to get the enthusiasm there for President Joe Biden.

“The concern is that the couch is going to win,” one person close to the Harris team told CNN. “We need to make sure that Black men, Hispanic men, don’t sit on the couch. Because if they don’t vote at all. That’s (a) vote for him.”

In response to the Harris campaign’s struggle to recreate, in short order, the multiracial Biden coalition of 2020, campaign operatives and allies have been offering a similar directive to the Obama delivered in Pittsburgh, often privately working to make the case to voters in close-up, intimate spaces.

Last month in Milwaukee, Harris’ brother-in-law, Anthony West, quietly attended a local meeting of the NAACP – a technically nonpartisan group whose members are filled with influential, mostly Democratic state activists and organizers.

In a recording of the meeting obtained by CNN, he made the case for Harris in strong terms.

“Remember you were raised by a strong Black woman, a strong Black woman took care of you, fed you, gave you an opportunity in life,” West told the NAACP audience, urging those in attendance to take the message home.

CNN’s Eva McKend contributed to this report.

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Congressional Black Caucus comes out swinging to defend Obama, demands Trump ODNI director Gabbard resign

Gerren Keith Gaynor
Thu, July 24, 2025

THE GRIO


(Photo: Getty Images)

In a letter, CBC members accuse National Intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard of “blatant misuse” of her role to “shield” Trump, who they describe as a “34-time convicted felon and adjudicated rapist from facing the truth.”

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus came out swinging in a letter to the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, who, along with President Donald Trump, has accused, without evidence, President Barack Obama of committing treason. The group of nearly two dozen Black lawmakers are calling on Gabbard to “immediately” resign.

Gabbard’s office recently released declassified documents, claiming them as “overwhelming evidence” that Obama and his senior staff “manufactured and politicized” intelligence evidence against President Trump related to Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.

“This is not only categorically false; it is a dangerous and deliberate distortion of reality,” reads the letter, led by U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif. “As Director of National Intelligence, your job is to safeguard truth, not spread propaganda. Instead, you have abused your position to promote a partisan narrative rooted in conspiracy and discredited claims.”

Some of the letter’s signees include U.S. Reps. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas; Yvette D. Clarke, chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; and LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., who is controversially facing charges brought by the Trump administration.

Kamlager-Dove told theGrio it was important for the Congressional Black Caucus, as the “conscience of the Congress” to get in front of the very public attacks on Obama. The congresswoman condemned Gabbard and the Trump administration for their public campaign to “malign” America’s first Black president.

WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 12: U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) speaks during a news conference on the nomination of Kash Patel to be the next FBI Director at the U.S. Capitol on February 12, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)More

She told theGrio former President Obama had “far more integrity attached to his legacy than this current administration will ever know.”

Gabbard’s public release of Russia-related intelligence assessments involving former Obama officials has been heavily criticized by Democrats, who say the Trump administration is targeting Obama to distract from the political controversy that has faced President Donald Trump amid reports that he is mentioned in the FBI files related to convicted sex trafficker and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Despite Trump’s vow to release the full Epstein files, his administration announced in a DOJ memo that it would do no such thing. Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi have dismissed the calls for their release, arguing that much of its content involves explicit images and details about child sexual abuse.

However, calls for the Epstein files’ release have sustained–from Democrats and Republicans–amid reports that Trump was informed by Bondi that his name is mentioned in the documents. That fact has only fueled concerns about whether or not President Trump is hiding something.

The letter from the CBC accuses Gabbard of “blatant misuse” of her role as National Intelligence Director to “shield” Trump, who they describe as a “34-time convicted felon and adjudicated rapist.” They added, “[It’s] not only a moral failure, but a glaring betrayal of the very Constitution that you swore an oath to uphold.”

Trump’s latest attack on Obama is part of a years-long political feud. Trump’s political rise is tied to the racist “birther” conspiracy that Obama, the son of a white mother from Kansas and a Kenyan father, was not born in America and therefore not a U.S. citizen. Ironically, Trump is now aiming to end birthright citizenship in an attempt to mass deport immigrants.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Kamlager-Dove said she is not surprised by Trump taking aim at Obama, but said his call for Obama’s arrest over unproven claims is a “new low.” She explained, “I think it just goes back to the fact that he is deeply afraid of what’s in those [Epstein] files.”

More in Politics


John Bolton slams Tulsi Gabbard over ‘treasonous’ Obama report: ‘She’s imagined evidence that doesn’t exist’
The Independent

The congresswoman said Trump is also “jealous” of Obama and “incredibly intimidated” by Black Americans, telling theGrio, “We are living rent free in his head every single day.”

The CBC letter calls out Gabbard for her “poor judgment,” noting that while it is not her first, her targeting of Obama is her “most egregious” offense.

“The Intelligence Community must be guided by objectivity, professionalism, and fidelity to the facts. You have demonstrated none of these. Instead, you have politicized your office, undermined public trust, and embarrassed the very institution you were entrusted to lead,” said the group of Black lawmakers.

Patrick Rodenbush, a spokesperson for Obama, condemned the Trump administration’s “bizarre allegations” as “ridiculous and weak attempt at distraction.”

“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,” he said.

Kamlager-Dove, whose letter highlights Trump’s criminal record, said amid the Epstein controversy and the “distraction” campaign against Obama, it’s “important that we remember who Donald Trump is.”

“He was found liable. He does have a history of toxic interactions with women, and the Epstein files is a story about women being assaulted, being abused, possibly even being trafficked, and that being allowed to happen, and in fact, that being condoned and protected by the rich and powerful,” she told theGrio.

She added, “There’s a direct link between that story and this administration and who this person is.”

Trump’s chilling accusation against Obama will have cataclysmic consequences

John Casey
Thu, July 24, 2025 

THE ADVOCATE


ear bandaged President Donald Trump at the 2024 Republican National Convention alongside US President Barack Obama holding diploma and gold medal at ceremony after winning Nobel prize

Long before he descended that revolting gold escalator, Donald Trump found his political footing on a lie, a deeply racist one. The “birther” conspiracy, which falsely claimed that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States, was not just a fringe delusion.

Trump mainstreamed it. He nurtured it. And he wielded it cynically to stoke white grievance and vault himself into the political spotlight. That lie was the foundation for his eventual run in 2016. And now, nearly a decade later, Trump has doubled down with something even more dangerous. He’s accusing Obama of treason.

It’s blasphemy, multiplied by a hundred.

The birther conspiracy was not just a harmless political jab. It was designed to delegitimize the nation’s first Black president in the eyes of white America. It was sinister. It was racist — that bears repeating. And it worked. Trump’s relentless questioning of Obama’s citizenship signaled to millions that he was willing to say what others wouldn’t.

It endeared him to the most toxic elements of the right, and launched him straight into the 2016 Republican primaries. And when Obama roasted him at the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner, a sorry-faced Trump presumably vowed revenge, starting with the 2016 election, reasoning why not show them all..

Trump is such a petty man, as Obama soars above him, and that pisses the petty man off.

That election, as confirmed by both U.S. intelligence and bipartisan Senate findings, was hijacked by foreign interference. Russia did interfere in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump. That isn’t partisan spin. It’s the official conclusion of the Senate Intelligence Committee, then cochaired by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who now of course is the Trump’s bootlicking secretary of State.

It’s backed by the Mueller report, by unanimous findings from Trump’s own intelligence chiefs, and even by Tulsi Gabbard, now Trump’s own director of national intelligence, who acknowledged the interference on Joe Rogan’s podcast in 2018.

And yet, Gabbard has now orchestrated a grotesque reversal to serve her boss. Her new “investigative” report, shamefully labeling the assertions of Russian interference a “seditious conspiracy,” attempts to pin the blame for said interference not on Trump’s campaign (where it belongs) but on President Obama.

It’s a stomach-turning betrayal of truth and patriotism, and it reveals how far Trump’s inner circle is willing to go to feed his obsession with retribution. Obama essentially made Trump look like a liar with the “birther” controversy, and Trump wants revenge.

The truth is Barack Obama had zero influence on the bipartisan Senate report, zero influence on the Mueller investigation, and zero participation in any fabricated “conspiracy.” His administration warned about Russian interference. Trump’s people welcomed it. And now, in a grotesque act of projection, they’re blaming Obama for their own disgrace.

That’s really it. Trump knows Obama can disgrace him, so Trump attempts to disgrace Obama, and in turn becomes a disgrace.

And Trump, never one to let go of a lie, took it a step further. In an unhinged rant, he accused Obama of treason and suggested he should be prosecuted. This is no longer politics based on being embarrassed by Obama more than once. It’s a fascist fantasy. Trump, the man who pardoned actual seditionists from the January 6 insurrection, is now smearing the most admired president in modern American history.

This isn’t just wrong. It’s dangerous.

Let’s not underestimate the consequences. Trump’s MAGA base, riled up once before by the birther lie, now has new marching orders. They’ve already shown they’re willing to take violent action based on Trump’s words. And now he’s accusing Obama, without evidence, of the highest crime in the nation. This is a red line. Someone could get hurt. Someone could get killed.

Make no mistake: When Donald Trump calls Barack Obama “treasonous,” he’s lighting the same match he used to ignite the birther lie. This is a calculated attempt to inflame his white supremacist base with the ugliest weapon in his arsenal, and that is racist hate dressed up as patriotism.

Even President Obama, usually restrained in his public comments, felt compelled to respond. In a statement, he denounced the accusations as “completely baseless” and “profoundly irresponsible.” And they are. But Obama’s response won’t reach MAGA America. They’ll believe Trump. They always do. Truth doesn’t matter in a movement built on lies.

In fact, they despise Obama and everything he stands for, which includes honesty and decency, something severely lacking in political discourse at the moment.

And the timing is no coincidence. Trump is on a scorched-earth retribution tour. From threatening to prosecute journalists to installing loyalists like Gabbard to rewrite history, Trump’s authoritarian turn is no longer hypothetical. It’s here. And it’s getting worse.

His enablers, Rubio, Gabbard, and others, know the truth. They read the same reports. They know Russia interfered. They know Obama didn’t conspire. But they are willing to lie, to defame, and to endanger lives to keep Trump’s ego intact. It’s shameful. It’s disqualifying. And in any functioning democracy, it would be criminal.

Trump built his movement on a lie. But this new lie, this grotesque, reckless accusation of treason, is a threat to the republic itself. It poisons the well of democratic discourse. It incites hatred. And it opens the door to political violence on a scale we’ve never seen before.

It’s hard to grasp the severity of this, but we can’t look away, and we most certainly can’t normalize it. And we can’t wait until someone is harmed to say, “We should have known.”

However, I have a genuine concern and fear that that is what’s going to happen.

Voices is dedicated to featuring a wide range of inspiring personal stories and impactful opinions from the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. Visit Advocate.com/submit to learn more about submission guidelines. Views expressed in Voices stories are those of the guest writers, columnists, and editors, and do not directly represent the views of The Advocate or our parent company, equalpride.

This article originally appeared on Advocate: Trump’s chilling accusation against Obama will have cataclysmic consequences

GOP Senator Says Timing Of Tulsi Gabbard's Obama Conspiracy Push Seems Curious

Marita Vlachou

Thu, July 24, 2025 


Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Wednesday said Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s claims that former President Barack Obama’s administration orchestrated a “yearslong coup and treasonous conspiracy” to undermine Donald Trump seems to be part of an effort by the White House to sweep the Jeffrey Epstein controversy under the rug.

In an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Murkowski said Gabbard’s actions suggest the Trump administration is “trying to deflect” from questions surrounding Epstein by resorting to “things that may be prior history.”

“Words like treason are big words, right?” Murkowski said.

“It does cause one to wonder if this is an effort by folks in the administration to have the conversation move on to something else, other than the Epstein matter, move on to something else, another, somebody other than President Trump so let’s go back to prior presidents,” she added.

Asked if she thinks Gabbard’s actions are a “distraction technique,” the Alaska senator replied: “Based on the timing of all of this, it does kind of cause you to question.”

Trump last week falsely claimed that he had no help from Russia in the 2016 presidential election, accusing Obama of the “highest level Election Fraud.” His baseless accusations were echoed by Gabbard, who sought to rewrite history by releasing a document that she said undercut the intelligence community’s claim that the Kremlin wanted Trump to win the 2016 race.

Both special counsel Robert Mueller and the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee had concluded that Russia actively worked to help Trump win.

Meanwhile, Murkowski urged Trump to release all files related to Epstein to put the issue behind him once and for all.

“Just be done with it. Be done with it,” she said. “If, in fact, there’s no there there for the president, get it out there. Just get it out there and be done.”

The controversy has been heating up in recent weeks following the release of a memo by the FBI and the Justice Department earlier this month asserting there was no evidence to suggest Epstein’s death wasn’t a suicide or that he held a client list to blackmail people. The document directly undercut Attorney General Pam Bondi’s comments to Fox News in February that Epstein’s client list was “sitting on my desk right now to review.”

Trump’s efforts to diffuse interest into the story, soliciting the help of GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), have been fruitless against an onslaught of reports prompting renewed scrutiny into his ties to Epstein, who died in federal prison one month after being arrested on charges of sex trafficking minors in 2019, during Trump’s first term in office.

The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday reported that Bondi told Trump in May that his name was in the Epstein files multiple times. The fact that Trump was named in the files does not suggest he committed any wrongdoing, the Journal noted. Trump’s team dismissed the story as “fake news.”



James Carville Gives Fox News Viewers An Uncomfortable Reminder About Jeffrey Epstein
HuffPost

The outlet had previously reported the president had written a “bawdy” letter to Epstein in 2003 as part of a surprise for the disgraced financier’s 50th birthday put together by his girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. Trump sued the paper for libel over the report, which he described as untruthful.

CNN this week also released photos showing Epstein attending Trump’s wedding to Marla Maples as well as video showing the two men appearing at a Victoria’s Secret fashion event in 1999.

‘Pod Save America’ on Gabbard’s Obama allegations: ‘Crock of s‑‑‑’

Amalia Huot-Marchand
Fri, July 25, 2025 

‘Pod Save America’ on Gabbard’s Obama allegations: ‘Crock of s‑‑‑’


“Pod Save America” host Dan Pfeiffer railed against Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s accusations that the Obama administration led a “treasonous coup” over the 2016 election.

“I don’t think we should call this a scandal,” Pfeiffer, a onetime adviser to former President Obama, said in a Friday episode of the podcast. “Like I don’t know what else to call it, a crock of s‑‑‑.”

“They can’t even explain the allegation. It makes no sense,” he continued. “This is the most easily debunked thing in the world.”

Last week, Gabbard released a report claiming that the Obama administration manipulated intelligence to create a false narrative that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

Gabbard then doubled down on the accusation and unsealed a formerly classified House Intelligence Committee report Wednesday that cast doubts on the Eurasian country’s interest in the 2016 election and his desire to aid President Trump.

She called the Obama administration’s reported actions “the most egregious weaponization and politicization of intelligence in American history.”

Several intelligence reviews have concluded that Russia sought to influence the contest and that President Vladimir Putin favored Trump in the election.

Gabbard, at a White House press briefing Wednesday, claimed that the evidence pointed to Obama as the main instigator of the efforts and said she was looking into possible criminal implications.

Trump backed Gabbard, calling the intelligence assessment “irrefutable proof that Obama was seditious.”

“I guess the crime is the creating a false narrative,” co-host Jon Favreau, former Obama speechwriter, said on the Friday episode. “I didn’t think a false narrative could be a coup.”

The podcast hosts join fellow Democrats in criticizing Gabbard, particularly as fervor grows surrounding the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, which Democrats — and even some Republicans — have called to be released.

“It seems as though the Trump administration is willing to declassify anything and everything except the Epstein files,” Sen. Mark Warner (Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.

How Tulsi Gabbard is trying to rewrite the history of the 2016 election

Analysis by Zachary B. Wolf, CNN
Sat, July 26, 2025 

LONG READ


Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on Wednesday. - Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP


A version of this story appeared in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.

The director of national intelligence told Americans this week that what everyone has known about the 2016 election is backwards.

The US intelligence community; bipartisan Senate review; the Mueller report; the Durham report — years of investigations concluded or did not dispute the idea that 

In Gabbard’s telling, the idea that Russia meddled and that it favored Trump is a narrative spun out of a conspiracy hatched by then-President Barack Obama to undermine Trump from the get-go. Trump clearly approves of Gabbard’s version, although there’s no evidence to support her claims.

Both Trump and Gabbard said Obama could be guilty of treason, which they did not mention is a crime punishable by death. Both Trump and Gabbard left it to Attorney General Pam Bondi to figure out the legal ramifications.

Obama, obviously, disputed the claims, which go against the documented fact pattern, and issued a rare statement condemning Gabbard’s spectacular claims.

I went to CNN’s Jeremy Herb to better understand what the facts say and how Gabbard is trying to undermine them. Our conversation, conducted by email, is below.
What does Gabbard say happened in 2016?

WOLF: Tulsi Gabbard and Donald Trump appear to be trying to flip the script on the history of the 2016 election. What is the broad outline of the allegation?

HERB: Trump, Gabbard and their conservative allies allege that after the 2016 election, President Barack Obama ordered US intelligence agencies to compile an assessment of Russian election interference in order to undermine Trump’s legitimacy before he took office. Gabbard accuses the Obama administration of “manufacturing” the intelligence in the January 2017 report, which contained the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered and sought to help Trump win. Both she and Trump have suggested Obama and his team were “treasonous.”
What does the evidence suggest actually happened in 2016?

WOLF: What is the broad outline of what we actually know happened in 2016?

HERB: The assessment released by the intelligence community after the 2016 election documented Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 election.

The unclassified version of the report was released in January 2017, detailing both a social media influence campaign and cyber operations like the hacking and strategic release of Democrats’ emails by Wikileaks. The assessment made several judgments, including:

► that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign to undermine faith in the democratic process, denigrate Hillary Clinton and harm her electability and potential presidency,

► that Putin and the Russian government developed a clear preference for Trump,

► that Putin and the Russian government aspired to help Trump’s election chances.

It’s the third assessment — which was made with high confidence by the FBI and CIA and medium confidence by the NSA — that’s been the source of criticism from Trump’s allies for years.

Why don’t Gabbard’s claims make sense?

WOLF: Is there any evidence to contradict what Trump and Gabbard are alleging?

HERB: There’s plenty, including even in the documents that Gabbard has released so far.

Gabbard has declassified two sets of documents. She claimed the first set, released last week, was evidence that the intelligence community found before the Obama-ordered assessment that Russia did not hack election infrastructure to alter the election outcome. But that isn’t what the intelligence community concluded in the assessment in the first place: Intelligence officials alleged that Russia carried out an influence and hacking campaign to influence voters — they never claimed Russia changed vote tallies. Our sources who previously scrutinized the assessment said Gabbard was conflating two things to try to make a political point; one called it “wildly misleading.”

The newest set of documents, released Wednesday, is a previously classified Republican congressional report from 2017 challenging one of the conclusions from the intelligence community assessment: that Putin aspired to help Trump in 2016. It alleges that the assessment made leaps of logic based on thin sourcing and failed to weigh contradictory evidence.

But disputing the way raw intelligence was analyzed is not the same thing as alleging the intelligence community “manufactured” intelligence — and CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s own review of the intelligence assessment doesn’t support Gabbard’s allegation, either.

There are other holes in Gabbard’s narrative.

She said that a draft of the December 8, 2016, president’s daily brief was shelved after it stated that Russian actors “did not impact recent US election results” by conducting cyber attacks on election infrastructure.

The next day, Gabbard alleged, Obama and his team launched the effort for a new assessment to claim the “election was ‘hacked,’” pointing to a high-level meeting of Obama officials on December 9.

The problem? According to the Senate Intelligence Committee, Obama instructed then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to prepare a report on Russian election interference on December 6 — two days before the alleged shelving of the presidential brief on election infrastructure.
Where did the report Gabbard released come from?

WOLF: Who wrote this 2017 House intelligence committee report Gabbard has made public? Why wasn’t it released before?

HERB: Trump and his allies in Congress have wanted to release the House Intelligence Committee report for years.

It was drafted by Republicans during the first Trump administration when the panel was chaired by former Rep. Devin Nunes, now CEO of Trump’s social media company. Kash Patel, now Trump’s FBI director, was a top committee aide. The intelligence the committee scrutinized was so sensitive that the CIA only allowed staffers and lawmakers to view it and work on their report at CIA headquarters. The committee brought in a safe to lock up its material, which was kept in a CIA vault; it became known as a “turducken,” or a safe within a safe.

Before the 2020 election, Trump’s allies pushed Ratcliffe, who was director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term, to declassify and release the report. But he declined to do so amid strenuous pushback by CIA and NSA officials because of the sensitive information contained in it.

Democrats and former intelligence officials warned us that even with the redactions contained in Wednesday’s release, there was still information contained in the report that could risk exposing sources and methods to the Russians.

The raw intelligence contained in this classified House report is part of what prompted the intelligence community to grow so concerned when a binder full of documents related to the FBI’s Russia investigation went missing at the end of the first Trump administration.
What is the universe of reports on meddling in the 2016 election?

WOLF: There have been many reports that support the accepted narrative that Russia meddled to help Trump in 2016. Which are the most important?

HERB: The Senate Intelligence Committee also spent several years investigating Russian election interference, and that panel — on a bipartisan basis — came to the opposite conclusion as House Republicans on the intelligence assessment.

The Senate panel found that the judgments made by the intelligence assessment were well-supported and did not have any “significant analytic tradecraft issues.”

“The Committee found that the ICA presents information from public Russian leadership commentary, Russian state media reports, and specific intelligence reporting to support the assessment that Putin and the Russian Government demonstrated a preference for candidate Trump,” the 2020 Senate report stated.

It’s important to note that the bipartisan report came from a Republican-led committee, chaired through most of the investigation by then-Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina. When the report was released, the panel was led by Marco Rubio — now Trump’s secretary of state.

The intelligence community’s assessment of Russian interference has also been a topic for the Justice Department’s inspector general, as well as special counsels Robert Mueller and John Durham.

Durham was appointed by then-Attorney General Bill Barr in Trump’s first term to investigate potential wrongdoing, including anti-Trump bias, during the FBI’s early investigation into Russia and the Trump campaign. He also probed whether there was any wrongdoing by the FBI and intelligence community during the 2016 post-election period but never accused any US officials of any crimes related to the 2017 intelligence assessment.

Trump has a track record of ordering investigations that don’t deliver

WOLF: The president has promised investigations in the past that have failed to uncover massive anti-Trump conspiracies. His first-term inquiry into election fraud found none. Durham’s sprawling probe fell far short of Trump’s sky-high expectations. Is that what will happen here?

HERB: On Wednesday evening, Bondi announced a strike force that would be dedicated to investigating the documents Gabbard had released and her allegations that the Obama administration “manufactured” evidence about Russia’s election interference.

That followed reports from CNN and others earlier this month that the FBI was investigating former Obama-era CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey following a referral from Ratcliffe in his review of the intelligence community assessment.

Will those investigations lead to breaking new ground and criminal charges? It’s impossible to say, of course. But as I noted above, Durham was appointed by the Trump Justice Department and conducted a four-year investigation into all topics related to the origins of the Russia investigation, which included questioning Brennan in 2020. (Brennan, who denies wrongdoing, was never charged.)

And despite Gabbard’s claims, there’s nothing in the documents she released that appears to fundamentally change what we knew about the assessment the intelligence community created in 2017 or the conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

And then there’s the Steele dossier

WOLF: What about the dossier? Was that part of this intelligence assessment and the latest allegations?

HERB: A summary of the infamous dossier from British intelligence officer Christopher Steele was included as an annex to the January 2017 intelligence community assessment. The inclusion of the dossier in the assessment — and the news first broken by CNN of the dossier’s existence soon thereafter — is part of why Trump and his allies are so critical of the intelligence community’s assessment in the first place.

The dossier was paid for by the Clinton campaign and included many wild and salacious allegations involving Trump and his campaign that were ultimately discredited. The FBI also erred in using the dossier to wrongly obtain two FISA surveillance warrants on a former Trump campaign adviser.

But reviews of the intelligence community’s assessment have shown that the dossier was not behind the analysis in the assessment, as Gabbard has tried to claim over the past week.

The Senate Intelligence investigation interviewed the analysts who prepared the report. There was a debate between the FBI and CIA over whether the dossier should have been included in the assessment — it was left out at the insistence of CIA officials.

“All individuals the Committee interviewed stated that the Steele material did not in any way inform the analysis in the ICA — including the key judgments — because it was unverified information and had not been disseminated as serialized intelligence reporting,” the Senate report states.
What does the evidence say about Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia?

WOLF: Trump has repeated the term “Russia hoax” so much that it is hardwired in people’s brains. But there were many documented ties between Russians and Trump’s campaign in the Mueller report. Is there political risk to Trump relitigating the 2016 election again?

HERB: Trump and his allies have undertaken a yearslong campaign to discredit all attempts to tie Russian interference to Trump, including the intelligence community assessment, the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation and the Mueller investigation.

Trump’s allies helped unearth numerous missteps in the investigations, from FBI’s errors relying on the dossier to obtain FISA warrants to the anti-Trump text messages exchanged between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.

But Trump’s repeated claims that the whole 2016 investigation was a hoax ignore the fact that numerous investigations effectively documented that Russia did in fact interfere. The Mueller probe did not establish a criminal conspiracy between the Russians and the Trump campaign, but the special counsel did document dozens of Trump-Russia contacts during the campaign, despite Trump repeatedly claiming falsely that no contacts existed. Most notably, the contacts included Donald Trump Jr.’s Trump Tower meeting where he was offered, and welcomed, “dirt” on Hillary Clinton.

The Senate Intelligence Committee investigation, released in 2020, went even further than Mueller to detail contacts between Russian government agents and the Trump campaign.

But like Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election, the president’s focus on Russian election interference pushes aside any information contrary to his narrative. He’s cheered on Gabbard — whose standing in the Trump administration had been in question following the Iran strikes — as she’s launched the latest attacks to back up Trump’s claim of a Russian hoax.