White House accuses Obama of plotting 'years long coup' against Trump

The claims were made by US Director of Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard at a White House briefing on Wednesday, as ITV News US Correspondent Robert Moore reports

America’s top intelligence officer has accused former US President Barack Obama, without evidence, of plotting a ‘years-long’ coup against Donald Trump.

Director of National Intelligance Tulsi Gabbard made the extraordinary allegation over claims that Russia intervened in the 2016 election in Trump’s favour.

She was speaking at a White House briefing on Wednesday, just hours after she made public a declassified report from House Republicans, that was produced during the first presidential administration.

“The implications of this are far-reaching and have to do with the integrity of our Democratic republic,” she told reporters on Wednesday.

“It has to do with an outgoing president taking action to manufacture intelligence to undermine and usurp the will of the American people in that election and launch what would be a years-long coup against the incoming President of the United States, Donald Trump.”

Democrats say the claims amount to a desperate attempt to deflect and distract from the Epstein story, given new life after the discovery of images showing Trump and Epstein together in the 1990s.

Gabbard also posted about her claims on social media, with an image of a board which was seen at the briefing, labelled “The Creation of The Russian Hoax”.

The report does not dispute the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in the election.

However, Gabbard says undermines the long-settled conclusion that Russia tried to help Trump beat Hillary Clinton for the presidency nearly a decade ago.

The release of the report, as Trump is facing backlash from elements of his base over the handling of records from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, is part of an ongoing effort by the Trump administration to rewrite the history of Russian election interference.

Gabbard lashed out during lengthy remarks at specific members of the Obama administration.

“President Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Brennan, James Clapper, James Comey and others, including their mouthpieces in the media, knowingly lied as they repeated the contrived narrative that was created in this January 2017 intelligence community assessment with high confidence, as though it were fact.”

Asked what action Trump wanted to be taken against Obama, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “He wanted the American people to see the truth, and now he wants those who perpetuated these lies and this scandal to be held accountable.

“As for what accountability looks like, as the director said, it’s in the Department of Justice’s hands, and we trust them to move this ball forward.”