President Donald Trump has positioned himself as the "deep state" by targeting his predecessor Barack Obama with possible prosecution, according to a Republican pollster.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has dredged up previously investigated claims about the origins of the "Russiagate" probe and alleged that Obama and some of his high-ranking national security officials engaged in a "treasonous conspiracy" during the 2016 election, and panelists on "CNN This Morning" agreed that Trump was trying to distract from his Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
"What's really bizarre about this whole situation, the current president is saying we have to move on from the Epstein story because it's old, but now we keep obsessing about the 2016 election, and we know the the report said at the time that the Russians did, in fact, meddle," said former Republican congressman Charlie Dent. "They didn't mess with any tallies, they didn't affect the outcome, and that's what the Senate Intelligence Committee told us, and I think Marco Rubio was part of that report."
"So this is, again, it's a wild distraction just away from the Epstein story, so I don't think there's much here," Dent added. "I agree with you, I don't think that President Obama has much to worry about. But, again, it's, I think, this is just flailing around."
GOP pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson warned that Trump's threats against Obama and other political rivals had the potential to backfire on him politically.
"This is silly to reopen this now almost decade-old story," she said. "I'm unfamiliar with there being a great deal of new information [but] it does feed into Donald Trump's belief that there is a sort of 'deep state' against him, and part of what's made this Epstein story so sticky is that this is one where now the tables have been turned, and it feels like Donald Trump has put himself in the 'I am the deep state' position."
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