GOP leans into Trump administration's Obama accusations

Some Republican lawmakers on Sunday platformed the administration's recent claims that Obama-era officials waged a Russia-related conspiracy against President Trump — but stopped short of endorsing the president's allegations of "treason."The big picture: Trump is again bemoaning a years-long grudge against the widely held conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, following new accusations from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard of a "treasonous conspiracy" from former President Barack Obama to sabotage Trump's first term.The initial accusations centered around findings from the Obama-era intelligence community that Russia didn't alter vote tallies by hacking election infrastructure. But as Axios' Zachary Basu and Tal Axelrod note, no serious investigation ever claimed Russia changed them.Last week, Gabbard declassified a report from 2020 that she alleges proves the Obama administration "conspired to subvert the will of the American people" and engaged in a "years-long coup against" Trump.In a rare rebuke, a spokesperson for Obama slammed the administration's claims as "a weak attempt at distraction."Driving the news: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) called for an investigation into the matter Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press.""If there is evidence of a crime being committed or suspected evidence of a crime being committed, create a special counsel to look at it," he said. "I think that's the best way to go."Asked by NBC's Kristen Welker whether the new controversy was an attempt to distract from the ongoing fallout from the administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, Graham argued he was trying to shed light on "something we didn't know before."The other side: Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, slammed Gabbard as a "weapon of mass distraction" on "Fox News Sunday," arguing there was "no new information" released."It's new to you, but all of this information has been available to the House Intelligence Committee, including in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, when all these investigations and reviews were done under the first Trump administration," Crow said, later adding that no information had been "purposefully hidden."In 2020, a Republican-led Senate panel affirmed the intelligence committee's conclusion that Russia meddled in the election and preferred Trump over Hillary Clinton.Zoom in: But Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.), the chair of the House Intel Committee, slammed what he called the "Russia collusion hoax" in a "Fox News Sunday" interview, describing it as "a fraud perpetrated on the American people at the expense of President Trump."But "with regard to the claims of treason, I'll leave that to the courts to make that determination," he noted.The bottom line: As Trump launches fresh attacks against his predecessors, questions about his administration's handling of the disgraced financier's case are still rippling through Washington.The competing narratives of the ongoing Epstein fallout, over which the president has cried "hoax," and the reinvigorated anger over the Russia investigation are in many ways both rooted in Trump's vision of a "witch hunt" that's plagued his political career, Axios' Basu notes.Trump quickly seized on the Obama storyline, sharing a seemingly AI-generated video of the former president being arrested earlier this month, and more recently, an edited photo of himself pursuing Obama in a car chase.Yes, but: Despite Trump's head-turning memes and accusation of "treason," Graham emphasized on Sunday he was not calling "for prosecution against President Obama for treason."What we're watching: The DOJ announced the formation of a "Strike Force" to assess the information publicized by Gabbard in a statement issued last week.Go deeper: Trump's "Russiagate" crusade enters fraught new territory

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