'Not a serious case': Legal expert debunks Trump's 'silly' push to investigate Obama

CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams put little weight behind President Donald Trump’s recent attempt to accuse former president Barack Obama of “treason” in a Tuesday Oval Office meeting.

Trump hoped to exploit Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s claim that former president Barack Obama "manufactured" Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and accused Obama of “treason.” The president launched into a rant on the former president after reporters requested updates on Trump’s refusal to release the entire file on convicted sex trafficker and Trump former friend Jeffrey Epstein

“I like to say ‘let’s give it time’, but he’s guilty. This was treason. This was every word you can think of. They tried to steal the election. They tried to obfuscate the election,” Trump claimed of reports of Russian interference that CNN noted was widely accepted as fact by “Republican and Democratic lawmakers" for years.

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When asked if there was any legal grounding for the U.S. Department of Justice to take up the referrals by Gabbard and Trump, Williams said they can “take up whatever they want if it's handed to them” but that won’t make it a case.

“There is not a serious case here for treason or sedition or whatever else,” said Williams, a former deputy assistant attorney general for legislative affairs at the DOJ. “… it's just silly. Now, can it be a hassle and a pain in the a-- to the person who's investigated, who's got to hire a lawyer and go through all the motions? Sure, but this is not an investigation that is grounded in any reality.”

Even though Williams conceded that “a grand jury could indict a ham sandwich,” there would be no prosecuting a sandwich like this.

“Prosecutors still have to get to probable cause, which is that it is more likely than not that a crime was committed—but it is not more likely than not that Barack Obama committed treason,” Williams said. “You don't have to like the president. You don't need to have voted for him. But let's be serious here about what the claims are.”

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“So, no. No one's getting charged here for this,” Williams said.

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