President Donald Trump said that he is “surprised” that Attorney General William Barr won’t investigate former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden for what Trump calls “Obamagate,” as a video posted by NBC News shows.
Trump was speaking at a meeting with restaurant owners on Monday when he opened the floor for questions. He was asked about Barr’s recent comments in which he said that it’s unlikely his office would initiate criminal prosecution against Obama and Biden, despite Trump’s repeated calls for him to do so.
“I think if it was me, I think they would do it,” Trump said.
“For them, maybe they’re not going to. I’m surprised because Obama knew everything that was happening. I don’t think Obama knows where he is in a lot of ways. I saw his statements the other day.”
Of Biden, Trump said that “only he knows what he knows, I don’t think he knows too much.”
Trump has called it the “biggest political crime in American history.”
The biggest political crime in American history, by far! https://t.co/m5nPdUHt4u
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2020
“I think Obama and Biden knew about it,” he added. “They were participants.”
Barr has said that the political system can’t be hijacked for political purposes.
Trump said that he has “no doubt” that both Obama and Biden were involved and repeated that it was one of the worst political scandals to hit the country. He declined to say if it was a criminal act, but it was “serious” and “illegal.”
Trump assured the reporter that he didn’t have to stay out of the situation, but had chosen to. The president then went on to slam Democrats for the Mueller investigation, saying that the country has more important things to deal with than “phony” investigations, though critics argue that Trump’s claims against Obama and Biden are not based on fact.
Obamagate is Trump’s term for the theory that Obama and Biden were involved in the investigation over the fact that Russia attempted to influence the 2016 election to the benefit of Trump. The claim is that the Russia investigation was an attempt to harm his chances of getting elected.
Trump has declined to provide any evidence on his claims but says that everyone knows what he’s referring to.
Trump says that Barr’s choice not to investigate his predecessor is a “double standard.” In the end, however, he says that he believes Barr is “honorable” and is willing to leave the ultimate decision up to him.
