Trump's attorney general dismisses possibility of 'Obamagate' investigations

As Donald Trump continued to propagate his “Obamagate” pseudo-scandal on Monday, the US attorney general, William Barr, said he did not expect a justice department review of the FBI’s handling of 2016 election interference to lead to the criminal investigation of Barack Obama or Joe Biden.

“As to President Obama and Vice-President Biden, whatever their level of involvement, based on the information I have today, I don’t expect Mr Durham’s work will lead to a criminal investigation of either man,” Barr said.

He was referring to federal prosecutor John Durham, who is reviewing the origins of the investigation of Russia’s 2016 election interference which expanded to include links between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

“Not every abuse of power, no matter how outrageous, is necessarily a federal crime,” Barr said.

With Biden the presumptive Democratic nominee for president in November, and leading in most polls, Trump has repeatedly referred to a supposed scandal he calls “Obamagate”, saying without evidence that his predecessor and his vice-president were tied to what he claims was “the biggest political crime in American history, by far!”

Without identifying who he was talking about, Barr said on Monday: “Our concern over potential criminality is focused on others.”

Trump has not made clear what he is accusing Obama of doing, but the allegations supported by influential Fox News hosts focus on law enforcement actions taken at the end of Obama’s presidency which concerned Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser.

In routine transactions, Flynn was “unmasked” as an American talking to foreigners who were under intelligence community surveillance.

Trump first pushed the allegations during a blitz of 120 tweets and retweets on 10 May. His acting director of national intelligence, Richard Grenell, declassified unmasking requests made by Obama administration figures including Biden.

Opponents of the president accused Grenell of politicising intelligence, and selectively releasing it to aid the president. He claimed to be acting out of concern for transparency.

Barr’s DoJ shocked the US with its move to drop its case against Flynn.

Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, after being fired by Trump for lying to Mike Pence about conversations with the Russian ambassador.

Flynn cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller in his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and links between Trump and Moscow.

Mueller did not establish a criminal conspiracy but did lay out extensive evidence of possible obstruction of justice by Trump.

Also on Monday, a retired judge who was appointed by the federal judge overseeing the Flynn case filed a request for oral argument concerning the attempt to drop it.

Before the 2016 election, Trump fueled his jump from reality TV star to political figure by championing the false claim that Obama, the first black US president, had not been born in the US and thus should not be in the Oval Office.

Early in his presidency, Trump claimed without evidence that Obama had ordered the tapping of his phones in Trump Tower.