Amid allegations that former President Barack Obama orchestrated a coup attempt against incoming President Donald Trump, Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., told Newsmax Thursday that the alleged conduct by the 44th president "is the true threat to democracy."
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Wednesday that Obama will be the focus of an investigation by the Justice Department over claims that he was leading the effort to stage a Russia-connected coup against Trump shortly after the 2016 election. Gabbard specifically pointed to a fake intelligence assessment that she says was manufactured at Obama's direction.
"The smoking gun is very evident right here, where in the Oval Office Barack Obama switched what the intelligence community had told him," Marshall said on "National Report." "He dreamed up this story. And why did he do it? No. 1 is, he wanted to delegitimize the election. No. 2, he wanted to cripple the president's legacy going forward as well."
Marshall added: "When I look at something like this, I want to think about a little bit of logic here. What was their motivation? I just described that. … This is the new report, OK? Congress had never seen this report from the Oval Office. It's consistent with the rest of the story. You all have reported on the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] abuse, Russia, Russia, Russia. This is the next chapter."
"Here's the evidence," Marshall said. "Here's the smoking gun. Here is a report from the Oval Office itself saying Barack Obama, in the room with [then Vice President] Joe Biden and all his cronies saying, Let's switch the narrative of the story. Let's say that Russia interfered with the election. Let's delegitimize the election and the will of the people."
Asked to comment about CNN dropping its live coverage of Gabbard's briefing, and whether the network's viewers can handle the allegations about the Obama administration, Marshall said he was reminded of a line delivered by actor Jack Nicholson's character, Col. Jessup, in the movie, "A Few Good Men."
"I'm reminded of Jack Nicholson saying, 'Mister, you can't stand the truth, or you can't take the truth,'" he said. "But look, here's the truth. Look at the evidence. Here is a report from the Oval Office, Barack Obama is given a report from the intelligence agency saying that Russia had minimal impact on the election, and Barack says, Oh, no, let's change that narrative. Let's go out there and delegitimize the election and tell the American people that Russia interfered with the election. Otherwise, how in the world could Hillary Clinton be beaten?"
"This is the true threat to democracy — when the president of the United States weaponizes the entire intelligence agency and the legacy media against the duly elected future president of the United States," Marshall added.
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.