Barack Obama finally breaks silence after Donald Trump threatens him with prison

Barack Obama has issued a rare scathing statement denying Donald Trump’s ‘bizarre’ claim that he is guilty of committing ‘treason’ in the 2016 US presidential election.

Trump, 79, is just months into his second term in office, which has recently seen him announcing a slew of reciprocal tariffs, recently issuing a savage response to Stephen Colbert’s show cancellation, and announcing he’d convinced Coca-Cola to change its recipe.

On July 20, the father-of-five caused further controversy online by sharing a strange AI-generated video of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, that showed him being arrested and thrown in jail.

Just days after the video was shared online, Trump accused the 63-year-old of ‘treason’, remarking Obama was ‘guilty’ of trying to ‘obfuscate’ the 2016 election.

The accusation was made whilst referring to an 11-page document released last week (July 18) by 44-year-old Tulsi Gabbard, the US director of national intelligence.

Trump has accused Obama of treason, a capital offence in the US that is punishable by death (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

In her paper, she recommended the prosecution of Obama's national security officials, due to an alleged ‘treasonous conspiracy’, as per The Guardian.

Moreover, she alleged that documents show that Russia did not seek to interfere in the 2016 election for Trump's benefit, despite numerous investigations that showed otherwise, as per NBC.

“This isn’t like evidence. This is like proof, irrefutable proof that Obama was seditious, that Obama … was trying to lead a coup, and it was with Hillary Clinton, with all these other people, but Obama headed it up,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday (July 22).

“He’s guilty. This was treason. This was every word you can think of. They tried to steal the election. They tried to obfuscate the election. They did things that nobody’s ever even imagined.”

His comments came as he hosted Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr in the Oval Office.

A spokesperson has issued a rare push back on behalf of Obama (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

A spokesperson for Obama has issued a rare rebuke on claims initially outlined by the Trump administration. They also discussed allegations made against the Obama administration in Gabbard's document.

They said that out of ‘respect’ for the office of the presidency, they would ‘not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response’.

“But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.”

Referring to Gabbard’s document, Obama’s spokesperson alleged that ‘nothing’ printed in the papers undercut ‘the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes’.

“These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio," they added.

When asked to comment on Obama's statement, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told NBC: "The White House is appreciative of Director Gabbard’s commitment to transparency and effort to end the weaponisation of government against American citizens.”