Will Trump actually prosecute Obama for 'treason'?

The Jeffrey Epstein scandal is not going away, but President Donald Trump would like to change the subject. That might be why he accused former President Barack Obama of treason this week. The question now is whether Trump's administration will bring charges against Obama.

Trump on Tuesday "escalated his distract-and-deflect strategy" to pivot from reporters' questions about Epstein by accusing Obama of wrongdoing, said The New York Times. Obama tried to "lead a coup" with intelligence assessments that said Russia "favored" Trump's 2016 election, Trump said during a question session at the White House. That accusation is a "weak attempt at distraction," said a spokesman for Obama. Trump suggested he was ready for prosecutions. "It's time to go after people," he said.

The Justice Department on Wednesday formed a "Strike Force" to investigate Trump's allegations against Obama, said The Hill. Investigators will "leave no stone unturned to deliver justice," said Attorney General Pam Bondi. One challenge: The Senate Intelligence Committee (including then-Sen. Marco Rubio, now Trump's secretary of state) in 2017 released a report agreeing that Russia supported Trump's election, though those activities did not include changing or stealing votes. The accusations against Obama are "patently false and unfounded," said James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence.

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What did the commentators say?

Trump has "mused about locking up political opponents" since his first run for president, said Garry Kasparov at his Substack newsletter. What happens next depends on "how voters and politicians respond," but there is a good chance that the "public is desensitized" to Trump's breaking of norms after 10 years in politics. Obama will "not find himself behind bars tomorrow, or next month, or even next year." Trump has declared his intent, however. "Public passivity is permission."

The president has "all but ordered his law-enforcement minions to arrest, prosecute and imprison" Obama, said Jackie Calmes at the Los Angeles Times. Trump has seemingly forgotten that last year he "persuaded a deferential Supreme Court to give presidents virtual immunity from criminal prosecution." Or he may believe that notable ruling applies only to himself.

The public "should avoid taking the bait" of Trump's attempts to distract from the Epstein scandal, but false allegations of treason "must command Americans' attention," said Calmes. The irony is that Trump is building a "false case" against Obama to divert attention from the "very real case" involving Epstein.

What next?

"MAGA's expectations are stratospheric," said Axios. Obama has long been one of the right's "biggest bogeymen." Failure by the Justice Department to prosecute the former president "could be seen as a betrayal" by a GOP base already disappointed by Trump's handling of the Epstein matter.

The "biggest problem" for the case against Obama is the "sheer lack of evidence of any wrongdoing," said Aaron Blake at CNN. Even if that were not the case, Obama could "well be immune from any such prosecution" because of the Supreme Court's immunity ruling Trump obtained in his defense against criminal charges stemming from Jan. 6. Trump's overall attitude seems to be "immunity for me, not for thee."