Questions have been raised about the prospect of Barack Obama being prosecuted for alleged treason.
It’s not new information that Obama and his 2017 successor Donald Trump haven’t always seen eye-to-eye, but things have always seemed somewhat civil with each other — up until recently.
On July 20, Trump found himself at the center of controversy after sharing an AI video of Obama being arrested.
Prior to sharing the bizarre clip, Tulsi Gabbard, the US Director of National Intelligence, accused Obama of ‘treasonous conspiracy’ that undermines Trump’s first presidency.
Gabbard said on July 18: “Over 100 documents that we released on Friday really detail and provide evidence of how this treasonous conspiracy was directed by President Obama just weeks before he was due to leave office after President Trump had already gotten elected.”
Tulsi Gabbard has accused Obama of ‘treasonous conspiracy’ (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The ‘conspiracy’ is that Russia had involvement in Trump’s 2016 election win, however, according to the Obama administration, the country was unsuccessful in its supposed efforts.
Gabbard has since released a formerly classified report on the matter. According to her, it reveals ‘gregious weaponisation and politicisation of intelligence’, BBC News reports.
Gabbard also claims that the documents present ‘irrefutable evidence’ that Obama and other officials directed the creation of an intelligence community assessment ‘they knew was false’.
Can the Trump administration actually prosecute Obama?
Long story short: no. As I’m sure you’re aware from the controversy surrounding Trump’s involvement the January 6 Captiol riots in 2020 that shook America to its very core, a president is immune to prosecution if the act is ‘official’.
This was a gray area for some time as no president had ever been tried while in office, but the topic was brought to people’s attention last year when Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury on four counts for conduct that occurred during his presidency following the November 2020 election.
This forced the Supreme Court to define what protection the POTUS has.
American presidents have absolute immunity (Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
It stated last year: “Under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts.”
Since Obama was in office during his alleged actions, he is immune from prosecution.
The administration would have to prove that the former president’s actions were unofficial to make any headway with criminal proceedings.
What has Obama said on the matter?
The allegations Obama is facing were carried out while he was still in office (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Obama’s spokesperson Patrick Rodenbush recently responded on behalf of the ex-POTUS to address the allegations.
“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,” Rodenbush said. “But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one.”
He continued: “These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.
“Nothing in the document issued last week (by Gabbard) undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes.”
