Trump Ignites Uproar by Posting AI Video Showing Obama ‘Arrested’ by FBI
US President Donald Trump triggered a major controversy on Monday after sharing an AI-generated video depicting former President Barack Obama being arrested by FBI agents inside the Oval Office. The video, posted without any disclaimer about its fictional nature, has since sparked intense debate and condemnation from political leaders and members of the public.
The 45-second video was posted on Truth Social late Sunday night. It opens with a montage of top Democrats, including Obama, repeating the phrase, “No one is above the law.” The footage then transitions to a digitally created scene showing Obama being handcuffed by FBI agents while an AI-generated Trump sits nearby, apparently smiling. The video ends with Obama, now in an orange prison jumpsuit, inside a jail cell as the song “YMCA” plays. The video quickly spread online and drew significant attention for its timing and lack of a disclaimer clarifying that it was artificially generated.
The provocative video emerged just hours after a dramatic announcement by US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who released over 100 documents alleging a “treasonous conspiracy” orchestrated by Obama and his senior intelligence officials in late 2016. Gabbard accused Obama-era leaders—including former DNI James Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan, and FBI Director James Comey—of manipulating and distorting intelligence to create the narrative that Russia interfered in the 2016 US presidential election to help Trump win.
Gabbard, a former Democrat congresswoman turned Trump intelligence chief, stated the implications are “nothing short of historic.” She said documents dating to just weeks before Obama left office purportedly show the intelligence community’s shift from concluding Russia had no intent or capability to affect US elections to suggesting that Russia aided Trump. Gabbard called the move an attack on “the integrity of our democratic republic” and announced her office would forward the evidence for criminal referral to the Department of Justice and FBI.
No official response has been issued by Obama or his former administration colleagues as of Monday morning. However, Democratic leaders and critics have rejected Gabbard’s claims, with Rep. Jim Himes calling them “rehashing decade-old false claims about the Obama administration.” Previous bipartisan investigations, including the Senate Intelligence Committee, found evidence that Russia attempted to interfere via a social media campaign, but did not alter votes or manipulate voting systems.
The immediate public reaction has been sharply divided. Supporters of Trump have hailed the video as a symbolic reckoning, while detractors condemned it as “deeply irresponsible” and potentially dangerous amid the rise of plausible AI-generated misinformation in US political discourse. The absence of a disclaimer in the video has been widely criticized, with experts and watchdogs warning about the dangers of deepfake content being shared by influential figures.
The Trump-Russia collusion theory remains one of the most hotly debated topics in US politics. While multiple investigations, including that led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, documented extensive contacts between Russian actors and the Trump campaign, conclusive evidence of a criminal conspiracy has never been established as per public and congressional reports. Trump has repeatedly denounced investigations as “witch hunts,” while Gabbard, as director of national intelligence, has moved aggressively to uncover what she describes as historic manipulation by Obama’s team.
