{"id":59223,"date":"2020-05-15T17:41:29","date_gmt":"2020-05-15T17:41:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=59223"},"modified":"2020-05-15T17:41:29","modified_gmt":"2020-05-15T17:41:29","slug":"trump-calls-on-senate-to-question-obama-in-conspiracy-theory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=59223","title":{"rendered":"Trump calls on Senate to question Obama in conspiracy theory"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"International Desk: President Donald Trump broke with tradition Thursday by calling for investigation of his White House predecessor Barack Obama in the latest attempt to push a conspiracy theory about his Democratic opponents.<\/p>\n

Washington operates under unwritten rules that presidents and ex-presidents avoid public clashes.<\/p>\n

However Trump, less than six months from a volatile reelection showdown, called for Obama to testify in the Senate over a conspiracy theory he has dubbed \u201cObamagate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The claim is that Obama\u2019s administration and a \u201cdeep state\u201d tried to scuttle Trump\u2019s presidency using probes into his contacts with Russian entities.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust do it,\u201d Trump tweeted, addressing Senator Lindsey Graham, one of his most loyal Republican allies, who chairs the powerful Senate judiciary committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first person I would call to testify about the biggest political crime and scandal in the history of the USA, by FAR, is former President Obama,\u201d Trump said in the tweet.<\/p>\n

Shortly after, Obama appeared to respond on Twitter, writing simply: \u201cvote.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Graham poured cold water on Trump\u2019s idea, telling Politico: \u201cI don\u2019t think now\u2019s the time for me to do that. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s even possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

However Trump is set to keep pushing his \u201cObamagate\u201d agenda as he works overtime to stir enthusiasm in his right-wing base ahead of the November 3 presidential election.<\/p>\n

Among the figures he is now targeting is Obama\u2019s vice president Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic challenger this November.<\/p>\n

The conspiracy theory seeks to turn on its head a two-year investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller into Trump\u2019s Russia contacts.<\/p>\n

Mueller determined that Trump and his election campaign had extensive, sometimes murky contacts with Russians, and that Moscow directly interfered in the tense 2016 election.<\/p>\n

But he said there was no hard evidence of collusion between the two sides.<\/p>\n

Trump has called for punishing the probe\u2019s backers, calling the entire affair a \u201choax.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite saying that he was \u201cgreatly concerned by the precedent that would be set by calling a former president\u201d to testify, Graham promised to hold hearings in June on the Russia-Trump investigation in general.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

International Desk: President Donald Trump broke with tradition Thursday by calling for investigation of his White House predecessor Barack Obama in the latest attempt to push a conspiracy theory about his Democratic opponents. Washington operates under unwritten rules that presidents and ex-presidents avoid public clashes. However Trump, less than six months from a volatile reelection […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":59225,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n