United States President Donald Trump  stirred a political storm after posting an AI-generated deepfake-style video depicting former President Barack Obama being arrested by FBI agents inside the Oval Office. The video later shows Obama wearing orange prison overalls, seated behind bars. 

This 45-second video was shared by Trump on his Truth Social handle after the US Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, on Friday (local time), called for a trial of the Obama administration over claims of Russian influence in Trump’s US Presidential win in 2016, alleging a “treasonous conspiracy” to undermine the election outcome through politicised intelligence.

The US President shared the video without any caption. Ahead of the deepfake-style video of Obama’s arrest, several American leaders can be seen saying, “No one is above the law.” 

Gabbard’s Call For Trial 

Tulsi Gabbard, in a statement, accused former US President Obama and senior officials in his office, including former DNI James Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan, FBI Director James Comey, and others, of manufacturing intelligence to falsely implicate Russia in influencing the 2016 election in favour of Trump.

“Americans will finally learn the truth about how in 2016, intelligence was politicised and weaponised by the most powerful people in the Obama Administration to lay the groundwork for what was essentially a years-long coup against President Donald Trump, subverting the will of the American people and undermining our democratic republic,” Gabbard claimed in a statement posted on X.

The Office of the DNI (ODNI) released a 114-page document detailing evidence that, prior to the November 2016 election, the Intelligence Community (IC) consistently assessed that Russia was “probably not trying … to influence the election by using cyber means.”

It further noted that on December 8, 2016, a draft of the President’s Daily Brief (PDB) stated that Russia “did not impact recent US election results” by conducting malicious cyber activities against US election infrastructure.

As per Gabbard’s findings, on December 9, 2016, a National Security Council meeting convened by Obama, involving Clapper, Brennan, and other high-level officials, allegedly directed the IC to produce a new assessment claiming Russian interference, despite contradicting prior findings.

The report further noted that an email from Clapper’s Executive Assistant tasked the CIA, FBI, NSA, and DHS with creating this new narrative “per the President’s request”. ANI reported that Gabbard further alleged that Obama officials leaked false claims to media outlets, including The Washington Post, asserting Russia’s interference through cyberattacks.

Gabbard concluded by calling for an investigation and prosecution under the US Department of Justice (DOJ) of those involved, stating, “No matter how powerful, every person involved in this conspiracy must be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law to ensure nothing like this ever happens again,” as quoted by the ODNI. 

She announced that all related documents have been sent to the DOJ for criminal referral.