Trump accuses Obama of treason. Obama calls it a 'weak attempt at distraction'
When asked about the Epstein case in the Oval Office on July 22, Trump pivoted quickly to an attack on Obama.
"The witch hunt that you should be talking about is they caught President Obama absolutely cold," Trump said, going on to accuse him of treason without providing evidence, Reuters reported. Trump also said in a July 21 Truth Social post that Obama manufactured the "Russia HOAX."
Obama has not been arrested or charged. Trump's comments follow Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard's claim she has evidence of a "treasonous conspiracy" related to the intelligence about Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The focus on Obama comes as the Trump administration continues to receive backlash from some Republicans over the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's criminal files. Putting attention on the 2016 election and investigations into Russia's interference could be part of a broader effort to distract from the Epstein fallout, according to The Washington Post and Axios.
"Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response," Patrick Rodenbush, a spokesperson for Obama, said in an emailed statement. "But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction."
More: Jeffrey Epstein is sowing division among MAGA. What to know about the late sex offender
Trump posted fake AI video of Obama, but he wasn't actually arrested
Trump has long criticized Obama. Before becoming a presidential candidate, Trump repeatedly spread false rumors that Obama wasn't born in the U.S., and wasn't eligible to be the president. But since returning to office this year, Reuters reported Trump had not gone so far as to accuse Obama of a crime.
The accusations come after a deepfake video depicting Obama's arrest (which did not happen). The July 20 post on Truth Social was a TikTok video by an account named "neo8171," with a montage of Democratic elected officials saying "no one is above the law." While it is unclear where the clips were from, Democrats have used that phrase when talking about Trump's criminal cases, including an arrest in Georgia and a felony conviction in New York.
The video then shows Pepe the Frog, a popular internet meme that was added to a hate symbol database during the 2016 election.
As "YMCA" starts to play, the video shows Trump and Obama sitting in the Oval Office, and an artificially rendered scene shows FBI agents dragging Obama out of his chair and cuffing his hands behind his back. The fake video then shows Obama in an orange jumpsuit in jail.
A representative for Obama previously declined to comment on the fake AI video.
Gabbard, Trump revisit 2016 Russian interference amid Epstein backlash
On July 18, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard issued a press release saying she had evidence that the Obama administration after the 2016 election produced "politicized intelligence that was used as the basis for countless smears seeking to delegitimize President Trump's victory."
In 2020, a Republican-led, bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee backed the conclusion of the intelligence agencies that found Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election in favor of Trump. Trump had long said the investigation into his campaign was a hoax.
Ranking Member on the Intelligence Committee Rep. Jim Himes, D-Connecticut, said Gabbard's new claim is a "dangerous lie," while speaking on CBS News' "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," on July 20. He said Gabbard is using a "sleight of hand" by focusing on intelligence about Russia's failed voting infrastructure manipulation rather than Russia's meddling to discredit Trump's 2016 Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
"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," Rodenbush said in the July 22 statement.
Appearing on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures," Gabbard said she intended to send her findings to the Department of Justice and the FBI for criminal referral.
'As is always the case, President Trump was right about the Obama-Biden administration's clear involvement in the greatest witch hunt in American history and the genesis of the decade-long hoax saga that tore our nation apart and undermined the will of the people," White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in an emailed statement previously shared with USA TODAY. "The President and his entire administration are committed to unearthing wrongdoing and holding any individual accountable for this gross abuse of power and blatant conspiracy against President Trump and his supporters.'
Contributing: Kevin Johnson, Kristine Phillips, USA TODAY; Reuters
Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kcrowley@gannett.com. Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @kinseycrowley.bsky.social.
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20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq futures rise on US-Japan deal hopes, with Tesla and Google on deck
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The rapid cooling-off occurred when the executive team announced they were unaware how much of the increase in revenue had been dependent on consumers attempting to circumvent the hike in prices from Trump's tariffs. Enphase Energy, Inc. (ENPH) Solar equipment provider Enphase Energy saw a drop of over 7.2% in the company's stock value in extended trading. With 5% of the market share in the solar equipment field Enphase acts as an early indicator for the impact that Trump's removal of tax credits will have upon the industry. Enphase are pointing towards a 20% drop in the residential market. Read more here. Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) Shares in semiconductor maker Analog Devices saw a drop of over 4.1% after-hours, erasing gains from the month so far. The company specializes in chips that convert real world input into electrical signals, processing sound, light, temperature, pressure and motion. Investors have been eyeing ADI's earnings reports, still not due for another month. AT&T subscribers surge, but the stock is sliding premarket AT&T (T) stock fell over 3% in premarket trading despite the telecom provider reporting a huge subscriber beat. Reuters reports: Read more here. AT&T (T) stock fell over 3% in premarket trading despite the telecom provider reporting a huge subscriber beat. Reuters reports: Read more here. How the dropping dollar could scramble Trump's agenda President Trump has said he is "never going to let the dollar slide." But his agenda is making that complicated, Yahoo Finance's Ben Werschkul reports: Read more here. President Trump has said he is "never going to let the dollar slide." But his agenda is making that complicated, Yahoo Finance's Ben Werschkul reports: Read more here. Good morning. Here's what's happening today. 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Yahoo Finance's Hamza Shaban reports in today's Morning Brief: Read more here. Enphase stock slides on warning of hit from Trump policies Shares in Enphase Energy (ENPH) fell after its third quarter revenue forecast fell short, as the US solar company pointed to headwinds from President Trump's policies. The solar equipment maker said Trump's import tariffs had hit its gross margin, after the US in April finalized steep duties on solar cells from Southeast Asia. At the same time, Enphase faces the fallout from Trump's cuts to tax incentives in the renewable energy sector. It said it expects the US residential solar market to shrink 20% next year as tax credits for homeowners end under Trump's sweeping budget legislation. Bloomberg reports: Read more here. Shares in Enphase Energy (ENPH) fell after its third quarter revenue forecast fell short, as the US solar company pointed to headwinds from President Trump's policies. The solar equipment maker said Trump's import tariffs had hit its gross margin, after the US in April finalized steep duties on solar cells from Southeast Asia. At the same time, Enphase faces the fallout from Trump's cuts to tax incentives in the renewable energy sector. It said it expects the US residential solar market to shrink 20% next year as tax credits for homeowners end under Trump's sweeping budget legislation. Bloomberg reports: Read more here. Trending tickers: Krispy Kreme, GoPro and Constellation Energy Corporation Here are some top stocks trending on Yahoo Finance in premarket trading: Krispy Kreme (DNUT)`stock rose 22% before the bell boosted by their names trending on social media a day after retail traders snapped up Kohl's (KSS) shares. Camera maker GoPro (GPRO) shares rose 43%, per Reuters short interest in the stock recently stood at 7.7%. Investor interest in heavily shorted stocks has grown after Kohl's jumped 38% on Tuesday amid heavy retail buying. Constellation Energy Corporation (CEG) stock rose 4% premarket after PJM Interconnection released results from its 2026-2027 capacity auction. The grid operator set record prices at $329.17 per megawatt-day, raising total capacity costs to $16.1 billion from $14.7 billion last year. Here are some top stocks trending on Yahoo Finance in premarket trading: Krispy Kreme (DNUT)`stock rose 22% before the bell boosted by their names trending on social media a day after retail traders snapped up Kohl's (KSS) shares. Camera maker GoPro (GPRO) shares rose 43%, per Reuters short interest in the stock recently stood at 7.7%. Investor interest in heavily shorted stocks has grown after Kohl's jumped 38% on Tuesday amid heavy retail buying. Constellation Energy Corporation (CEG) stock rose 4% premarket after PJM Interconnection released results from its 2026-2027 capacity auction. The grid operator set record prices at $329.17 per megawatt-day, raising total capacity costs to $16.1 billion from $14.7 billion last year. Tesla Q2 earnings preview: 3 things to watch Tesla (TSLA) is slated to report second quarter earnings on Wednesday against an uncertain backdrop for its core auto business and robotaxi rollout. Tesla stock pared some of its losses earlier in the year, as tariffs and a volatile relationship between CEO Elon Musk and President Trump weighed on the company. But the stock is still down about 17% year to date. Yahoo Finance's Pras Subramanian previews three key areas to watch when the EV maker reports: Read more here. Tesla (TSLA) is slated to report second quarter earnings on Wednesday against an uncertain backdrop for its core auto business and robotaxi rollout. Tesla stock pared some of its losses earlier in the year, as tariffs and a volatile relationship between CEO Elon Musk and President Trump weighed on the company. But the stock is still down about 17% year to date. Yahoo Finance's Pras Subramanian previews three key areas to watch when the EV maker reports: Read more here. Meme stocks are on the move again The return of meme stock mania doesn't appear like it will end on Wednesday. Some of the highest-trending ticker pages on Yahoo Finance this morning are meme crowd favorites Kohl's (KSS), Rocket (RKT), and Krispy Kreme (DNUT). As of 6 a.m. ET, Rocket and Krispy Kreme are each up double-digit percentages in premarket. "The phenomenon of meme stocks isn't going away. I feel like the genie's out of the bottle. And it's just become a way for a certain subset of everyday investors to trade, and that's completely fine," Ritholtz Wealth Management strategist Callie Cox said on Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid (watch below). Makes sense! The return of meme stock mania doesn't appear like it will end on Wednesday. Some of the highest-trending ticker pages on Yahoo Finance this morning are meme crowd favorites Kohl's (KSS), Rocket (RKT), and Krispy Kreme (DNUT). As of 6 a.m. ET, Rocket and Krispy Kreme are each up double-digit percentages in premarket. "The phenomenon of meme stocks isn't going away. I feel like the genie's out of the bottle. And it's just become a way for a certain subset of everyday investors to trade, and that's completely fine," Ritholtz Wealth Management strategist Callie Cox said on Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid (watch below). Makes sense! Texas Instruments stock plunges as guidance disappoints Given how hard the stock market has rallied, any company reporting guidance that is perceived as subpar will get punished. A good example of that will play out with Texas Instruments (TXN) in today's session. The stock is getting pounded premarket, down 12% after third quarter guidance on earnings per share that was 14 cents below consensus on the low end. TXN blamed weak demand in the auto market (heard the same in GM's (GM) outlook on Tuesday). Executives at the key chipmaker for producers of cars and factory equipment said they didn't know how much of the second quarter's jump in revenue was down to customers trying to get ahead of tariffs, per Reuters. Whatever the case, TXN's outlook is putting pressure on similar names in the space: Microchip (MCHP), Analog Devices (ADI), NXP Semiconductors (NXPI), and On Semi (ON). Given how hard the stock market has rallied, any company reporting guidance that is perceived as subpar will get punished. A good example of that will play out with Texas Instruments (TXN) in today's session. The stock is getting pounded premarket, down 12% after third quarter guidance on earnings per share that was 14 cents below consensus on the low end. TXN blamed weak demand in the auto market (heard the same in GM's (GM) outlook on Tuesday). Executives at the key chipmaker for producers of cars and factory equipment said they didn't know how much of the second quarter's jump in revenue was down to customers trying to get ahead of tariffs, per Reuters. Whatever the case, TXN's outlook is putting pressure on similar names in the space: Microchip (MCHP), Analog Devices (ADI), NXP Semiconductors (NXPI), and On Semi (ON). Japanese auto stocks surge as US announces lower-than-expected tariffs Shares of Japanese automakers pumped after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with Japan, lowering the previously discussed 25% auto tariffs on Japanese vehicles to 15%. Honda (HMC) surged 9.8%, Toyota (TM) jumped 13.9%, Nissan (7222.T) gained over 5%, and Mazda (7261.T) soared 17.7%. Mitsubishi Motors (7211.T) rose over 12%. According to Japan's NHK, the revised tariff structure includes a 12.5% cut plus a 2.5% 'Most Favored Nation' base rate. The move comes as Japanese auto exports to the US have suffered, plunging 26.7% in June. Trump hailed the deal as the 'largest Deal ever,' claiming Japan would invest $550 billion in the US and allow greater access to its markets, including for American autos, trucks, and agricultural goods. Shares of Japanese automakers pumped after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with Japan, lowering the previously discussed 25% auto tariffs on Japanese vehicles to 15%. Honda (HMC) surged 9.8%, Toyota (TM) jumped 13.9%, Nissan (7222.T) gained over 5%, and Mazda (7261.T) soared 17.7%. Mitsubishi Motors (7211.T) rose over 12%. According to Japan's NHK, the revised tariff structure includes a 12.5% cut plus a 2.5% 'Most Favored Nation' base rate. The move comes as Japanese auto exports to the US have suffered, plunging 26.7% in June. Trump hailed the deal as the 'largest Deal ever,' claiming Japan would invest $550 billion in the US and allow greater access to its markets, including for American autos, trucks, and agricultural goods. Trending tickers in after-hours trading Texas Instruments, Inc. (TXN) Texas Instruments, a leading chipmaker with the broadest product list in the field, saw its share value drop over 11.6% in after-hours trading. The stock has seen 46% gains in the year to date following a boom in purchases with each wave of tariff announcements. The rapid cooling-off occurred when the executive team announced they were unaware how much of the increase in revenue had been dependent on consumers attempting to circumvent the hike in prices from Trump's tariffs. Enphase Energy, Inc. (ENPH) Solar equipment provider Enphase Energy saw a drop of over 7.2% in the company's stock value in extended trading. With 5% of the market share in the solar equipment field Enphase acts as an early indicator for the impact that Trump's removal of tax credits will have upon the industry. Enphase are pointing towards a 20% drop in the residential market. Read more here. Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) Shares in semiconductor maker Analog Devices saw a drop of over 4.1% after-hours, erasing gains from the month so far. The company specializes in chips that convert real world input into electrical signals, processing sound, light, temperature, pressure and motion. Investors have been eyeing ADI's earnings reports, still not due for another month. Texas Instruments, Inc. (TXN) Texas Instruments, a leading chipmaker with the broadest product list in the field, saw its share value drop over 11.6% in after-hours trading. The stock has seen 46% gains in the year to date following a boom in purchases with each wave of tariff announcements. The rapid cooling-off occurred when the executive team announced they were unaware how much of the increase in revenue had been dependent on consumers attempting to circumvent the hike in prices from Trump's tariffs. Enphase Energy, Inc. (ENPH) Solar equipment provider Enphase Energy saw a drop of over 7.2% in the company's stock value in extended trading. With 5% of the market share in the solar equipment field Enphase acts as an early indicator for the impact that Trump's removal of tax credits will have upon the industry. Enphase are pointing towards a 20% drop in the residential market. Read more here. Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) Shares in semiconductor maker Analog Devices saw a drop of over 4.1% after-hours, erasing gains from the month so far. The company specializes in chips that convert real world input into electrical signals, processing sound, light, temperature, pressure and motion. Investors have been eyeing ADI's earnings reports, still not due for another month.
New York Post
21 minutes ago
- New York Post
Felon who allegedly barreled car through LA nightclub crowd faces 37 attempted murder charges
A convicted felon who allegedly drove his car through a crowd of people outside a Los Angeles nightclub over the weekend has been indicted. Fernando Ramirez, 29, of San Clemente, faces 37 charges of attempted murder and 37 counts of assault with a deadly weapon, all felonies, from a crash that left 37 injured outside the Vermont Hollywood nightclub Saturday night. Advertisement 'We understand that this brazen act has shaken the community and, but for the good grace of God, this could have been a mass casualty incident,' LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said, according to WPLG. Hochman said eight people suffered 'great bodily injury.' 'When he drove that car onto that sidewalk, he aimed it at a whole sea of pedestrians that were in front of him on the sidewalk at 2 a.m.,' Hochman said. The victims were mostly women waiting to enter the Hollywood nightclub when Ramirez allegedly ran them down in his Nissan Versa. Advertisement 5 Fernando Ramirez faces 37 charges of attempted murder and 37 counts of assault with a deadly weapon from the July 19 crash. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation 5 The victims were mostly women waiting to enter the Hollywood nightclub when Ramirez allegedly ran them down in his Nissan Versa. AXN NEWS via REUTERS The vehicle also traveled over a food vending cart and a valet stand. Adding to the chaos, bystanders reportedly pulled Ramirez from his disabled vehicle and assaulted him. During the altercation, a man pulled a gun and shot Ramirez. Advertisement Police are still searching for that suspect. 5 Fernando Ramirez faces 37 charges of attempted murder and 37 counts of assault with a deadly weapon from the July 19 crash. @LAPDPIO/X 5 Officials search the scene where Ramirez's car crashed outside the nightclub. AP 5 First responders check on injured patrons outside the Vermont Hollywood after the crash. AXN NEWS via REUTERS Advertisement Ramirez has a lengthy criminal history and was out of prison on parole at the time of the crash. KNBC reported he was convicted of felony battery from an attack on a man outside a Whole Foods in 2019 and sentenced to prison the following year. It is unclear whether his parole release was related to that conviction. The report said Ramirez has at least '11 criminal cases ranging from misdemeanors to felonies' since 2014, citing the Orange County District Attorney's Office. The 2014 charge was gang-related, and Ramirez has a pending 2024 drunk driving case and a pending 2022 domestic violence case that are both unresolved. He faces life in prison if convicted on the charges related to the car ramming. Fox News Digital's Greg Norman contributed to this report.
Chicago Tribune
21 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
From tech podcasts to policy: President Donald Trump's new AI plan leans heavily on Silicon Valley industry ideas
An artificial intelligence agenda that started coalescing on the podcasts of Silicon Valley billionaires is now being forged into U.S. policy as President Donald Trump leans on the ideas of the tech figures who backed his election campaign. Trump on Wednesday is planning to reveal an 'AI Action Plan' he ordered after returning to the White House in January. He gave his tech advisers six months to come up with new AI policies after revoking President Joe Biden's signature AI guardrails on his first day in office. The unveiling is co-hosted by the bipartisan Hill and Valley Forum and the All-In Podcast, a business and technology show hosted by four tech investors and entrepreneurs who include Trump's AI czar, David Sacks. The plan and related executive orders are expected to include some familiar tech lobby pitches. That includes accelerating the sale of AI technology abroad and making it easier to construct the energy-hungry data center buildings that are needed to form and run AI products, according to a person briefed on Wednesday's event who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. It might also include some of the AI culture war preoccupations of the circle of venture capitalists who endorsed Trump last year. Countering the liberal bias they see in AI chatbots such as ChatGPT or Google's Gemini has long been a rallying point for the tech industry's loudest Trump backers. Sacks, a former PayPal executive and now Trump's top AI adviser, has been criticizing 'woke AI' for more than a year, fueled by Google's February 2024 rollout of an AI image generator that, when asked to show an American Founding Father, created pictures of Black, Asian and Native American men. 'The AI's incapable of giving you accurate answers because it's been so programmed with diversity and inclusion,' Sacks said at the time. Google quickly fixed its tool, but the 'Black George Washington' moment remained a parable for the problem of AI's perceived political bias, taken up by X owner Elon Musk, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, Vice President JD Vance and Republican lawmakers. The administration's latest push against 'woke AI' comes a week after the Pentagon announced new $200 million contracts with four leading AI companies, including Google, to address 'critical national security challenges.' Also receiving one of the contracts was Musk's xAI, which has been pitched as an alternative to 'woke AI' companies. The company has faced its own challenges: Earlier this month, xAI had to scramble to remove posts made by its Grok chatbot that made antisemitic comments and praised Adolf Hitler. Trump has paired AI's need for huge amounts of electricity with his own push to tap into U.S. energy sources, including gas, coal and nuclear. 'Everything we aspire to and hope for means the demand and supply of energy in America has to go up,' said Michael Kratsios, the director of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, in a video posted Tuesday. Many tech giants are already well on their way toward building new data centers in the U.S. and around the world. OpenAI announced this week that it has switched on the first phase of a massive data center complex in Abilene, Texas, part of an Oracle-backed project known as Stargate that Trump promoted earlier this year. Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and xAI also have major projects underway. The tech industry has pushed for easier permitting rules to get their computing facilities connected to power, but the AI building boom has also contributed to spiking demand for fossil fuel production that will contribute to global warming. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called on the world's major tech firms to power data centers completely with renewables by 2030. 'A typical AI data center eats up as much electricity as 100,000 homes,' Guterres said. 'By 2030, data centers could consume as much electricity as all of Japan does today.' It's long been White House policy under Republican and Democratic administrations to curtail certain technology exports to China and other adversaries on national security grounds. But much of the tech industry argued that Biden went too far at the end of his term in trying to restrict the exports of specialized AI computer chips to more than 100 other countries, including close allies. Part of the Biden administration's motivation was to stop China from acquiring coveted AI chips in third-party locations such as Southeast Asia or the Middle East, but critics said the measures would end up encouraging more countries to turn to China's fast-growing AI industry instead of the U.S. as their technology supplier. It remains to be seen how the Trump administration aims to accelerate the export of U.S.-made AI technologies while countering China's AI ambitions. California chipmakers Nvidia and AMD both announced last week that they won approval from the Trump administration to sell to China some of their advanced computer chips used to develop artificial intelligence. AMD CEO Lisa Su is among the guests planning to attend Trump's event Wednesday. There are sharp debates on how to regulate AI, even among the influential venture capitalists who have been debating it on their favorite medium: the podcast. While some Trump backers, particularly Andreessen, have advocated an 'accelerationist' approach that aims to speed up AI advancement with minimal regulation, Sacks has described himself as taking a middle road of techno-realism. 'Technology is going to happen. Trying to stop it is like ordering the tides to stop. If we don't do it, somebody else will,' Sacks said on the All-In podcast. On Tuesday, 95 groups including labor unions, parent groups, environmental justice organizations and privacy advocates signed a resolution opposing Trump's embrace of industry-driven AI policy and calling for a 'People's AI Action Plan' that would 'deliver first and foremost for the American people.' Amba Kak, co-executive director of the AI Now Institute, which helped lead the effort, said the coalition expects Trump's plan to come 'straight from Big Tech's mouth.' 'Every time we say, 'What about our jobs, our air, water, our children?' they're going to say, 'But what about China?'' she said in a call with reporters Tuesday. She said Americans should reject the White House's argument that the industry is overregulated and fight to preserve 'baseline protections for the public' as AI technology advances.
