Former President Barack Obama issued a rare and sharply worded statement Tuesday night, dismissing as “bizarre” and “outrageous” President Donald Trump’s explosive accusation that he was the ringleader behind the yearslong Trump-Russia investigation — a probe now again in the national conversation after a new wave of declassified documents and a criminal referral from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

Trump, speaking from the Oval Office on Tuesday, accused Obama of personally masterminding the so-called “Russiagate” narrative in coordination with top national security officials, Hillary Clinton, and the Democratic National Committee. “President Obama. He started it,” Trump insisted. “It was his idea.”

The accusation followed Gabbard’s bombshell release of declassified intelligence, which she said contains “overwhelming evidence” that Obama’s national security apparatus deliberately politicized intelligence to frame Trump and fuel the Trump-Russia collusion narrative — despite internal assessments warning the intelligence was unfounded.

Trump called for a full criminal investigation into Obama and a slew of former top officials including Joe Biden, James Clapper, John Brennan, Susan Rice, Loretta Lynch, and Andrew McCabe. “They were all there,” Trump said. “This is the room,” he added, gesturing around the Oval Office. “Never has a thing like this happened in the history of our country.”

Obama’s office dismissed the claims. “These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction,” said spokesman Patrick Rodenbush. “Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes.”

The denial, however, sidestepped the growing focus on internal communications now surfacing through declassified memos — including a 2016 briefing in which then-CIA Director Brennan informed Obama of an alleged plan approved by Clinton “to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service.”

That briefing was forwarded to FBI Director James Comey and counterintelligence officials with the subject line “Crossfire Hurricane” — the now-notorious code name for the FBI’s investigation into Trump campaign officials.

While Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s $32 million investigation found no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives, it also failed to explain the origins of the investigation itself — prompting Attorney General Bill Barr to appoint John Durham as special counsel to probe its beginnings.

Durham’s findings were damning: He concluded that the FBI “failed to act” on clear warnings that it was being manipulated by a Clinton-driven effort to smear Trump. The discredited Steele dossier, funded by the Clinton campaign through law firm Perkins Coie, was central to obtaining secret surveillance warrants on Trump campaign aide Carter Page — despite being labeled “internet rumor” by the intelligence community.

Now, with Gabbard’s declassification of previously secret documents and her criminal referral to the DOJ, the spotlight is turning back on Obama and his senior advisers. The newly public materials suggest that intelligence officials knew Clinton operatives were attempting to manufacture a scandal and proceeded anyway.

Trump, whose administration has reportedly secured thousands more documents on the matter, signaled that additional disclosures are coming. “They figured they could just classify this and it would disappear,” Trump said. “It doesn’t work that way.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)