Trump Says the Government Should Investigate Obama’s Netflix Deal

The House Judiciary Committee is investigating Trump. He wants it to investigate Obama instead.

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The House Judiciary Committee moved closer to opening impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump last week. But what really deserves investigation, according to Trump, is Barack Obama’s Netflix deal.

The president fired off an early morning tweet storm Monday, repeating his rallying cry that former special counsel Robert Mueller found “ZERO COLLUSION, ZERO OBSTRUCTION” and directing his anger at his predecessor’s book and film deals.

After leaving office, Barack and Michelle Obama reportedly signed a $65 million book deal, as well as a “high 8-figure” deal with Netflix to produce films and series. It’s unclear why Trump thinks that the Obamas’ post-White House endeavors are worth investigating, or what crime he is implying they have committed.

Trump’s accusations against Obama are nothing new. Trump was an active participant in the “birther” movement, steadfastly accusing Obama of having been born outside the United States. It wasn’t until 2016—when Trump was running for president—that he conceded that Obama was born in Hawaii.

In this case, Trump’s attempt to deflect attention away from himself ended in total incoherence. “I am far beyond somebody paying for a hotel room for the evening, or filling up a gas tank at an airport I do not own,” he wrote. “These Radical Left Democrats are CRAZY! Obama Netflix?”

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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