The legal analyst said Newsweek The truth about President Donald Trump is that social reposting of AI videos showing former President Barack Obama's arrest could be a “distraction” as he faces backlash against the Epstein Files.
Why is it important?
Trump posted an AI-generated video on True Social on Sunday after the Director of National Intelligence reported that Obama and members of his administration had manufactured intelligence reporting on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
The announcement comes as Trump faces backlash against the handling of the case of Jeffrey Epstein, the late investor Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide in a federal prison in New York in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. There have been long rumors about Epstein's “client list,” but no such documents have been published.
However, a recent memo from the Department of Justice and the FBI said there is no “client list” and no further claims will be filed. Trump also called on his supporters to get over what he calls “Jeffrey Epstein's hoax” and to spark anger from many of his supporters.
What do you know
Several legal analysts said Newsweek The president's post about indicting Obama and his officials may be intended to divert from backlash. “There is no legal basis” for Trump to jail Obama, said former federal prosecutor Neema Ramani.
“In reality, it's not completely supported,” he said. “There were no serious charges in Durham's investigation into Russian interference, and the restrictions laws have been in place for a long time. If Trump were serious about doing this, his Justice Department would have done it during his first administration.”
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
The Durham report concluded that while the FBI had no evidence of conspiracy when it launched an investigation into potential ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, it did not recommend accusations against FBI agents.
Ramani described the story of prosecuting Obama as “more than anything, the political breeder of his base,” which may be intended to be “distracting him from his own Epstein-related issues.”
Gabbard's statement is not based on real evidence, he said.
“Influencing public opinion is not the same as changing vote counting,” he said. “In particular, with the broader interpretation of the Supreme Court's presidential immunity, there is no legitimate prosecutor to accuse the former president in this type of case.
The report found that Obama authorities agreed that the Russian government would not manipulate US election infrastructure to benefit Trump. Although no reports of Russia have changed its votes are known, other surveys have found that Russia is trying to influence American public opinion or SOW divisions.
Gabbard's report highlighted some communications within the intelligence news community surrounding whether Russia is planning to interfere in the election. On August 31, 2016, Communications, an official at the Ministry of Homeland Security (DHS), wrote that “there is no indication of a Russian threat that directly manipulates actual vote counts through cyber means.”
Gabbard wrote that the Intelligence News community agreed that Russia has no capacity to “hack US elections,” and on December 8, 2016, they planned to include that assessment in their daily briefings. However, she wrote that it was “a sudden pull of it based on new guidance.”
Obama has since reportedly directed the Intelligence Election community to create an assessment detailing Russia's election interference, despite it being inconsistent with the Intelligence Election. She said the administration “relied” on media allies to “advance their falsehood.”
“These documents attempt to overturn the will of the American people and take the president from fulfilling his duties of his duties,” she wrote.
Michael McAuliffe, former federal prosecutor and former elected state attorney, Newsweek This post is “How to attract media to cover the subject of a post.”
“Based on a reasonable rating, social media posts and cartoons are not the basis for criminal investigations or prosecution. Beware of the summary declaration of someone else's negligence, especially if it is covered in political fairy dust,” McAuliffe said.
Former federal prosecutor Jean Rossi also said Trump's post was a “shiny object” to divert from Epstein's backlash.
“The chances of criminal charges against President Obama are far less than the chances that Washingtonians will win this year's World Series,” Rossi said. Newsweek.
Still, he said Attorney General Pam Bondy, who said Rossi “apparently tends to act as Trump's personal lawyer,” could still open an investigation into the matter.
What people are saying
Peter Zeydenberg, a former federal prosecutor, said Newsweek The threat to prosecute Obama is “nonsense”: “Not only does there have been no reliable allegations against Obama, the law of restrictions will run out long ago. This is just a distraction.”
White House spokesman Harrison Fields said earlier. Newsweek: “The President and his entire administration are committed to unearthing fraud and to personally liability for this gross abuse of this power and blatant conspiracy against President Trump and his supporters.”
Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat who is vice-chairman of the Senate Intelligence Email Committee, wrote X: “DNI Gabbard reaffirmed that a long-standing Russian investigation conducted by the Senate Intelligence Email Committee “has “directed extensive activities in the US election infrastructure” ahead of the 2016 election, and was supported by Donald Trump.
What will happen next
Gabbard wrote, “We are providing all the documents to the Department of Justice to provide the accountability that President Trump, his family and the American people deserve.”
