While taking questions from reporters in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump abruptly went into a soliloquy about former President Barack Obama in response to a question about convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
NPR reported Tuesday that Trump blasted the ongoing Epstein controversy as a "witch hunt" by Democrats, while deflecting a question about Epstein by bringing up his predecessor. Rather than talk about the DOJ's as-yet-unreleased Epstein evidence, Trump brought up a trove of materials from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard which Trump says prove claims that the Obama administration "manufactured and politicized intelligence" about Russian interference in the 2016 election.
"It's the most unbelievable thing I think I've ever read. So you ought to take a look at that and stop talking about nonsense," Trump said of Gabbard's files.
READ MORE: (Opinion) The implications of Rupert Murdoch toppling Donald Trump are head-spinning
Trump's attempt to sidestep the Epstein issue didn't go unnoticed by various journalists, commentators and others on social media. HuffPost White House correspondent S.V. Date observed that Trump was "rambling on and on about Comey and Clapper and Obama and Hillary and the Steele Dossier and Russia Russia Russia" rather than answering a simple question "about his old pal with whom he attended parties stocked with attractive young women." Singer-songwriter Bill Madden called Trump a "deranged pedo in desperation mode." First Amendment attorney Andrew Fleischman simply tweeted: "You all know this is f---ing crazy, right?"
"He’s lost his marbles. He claims the Epstein files are a witch hunt (they aren’t) and then admits he is going on a witch hunt after Obama," West Virginia Democratic organizer Timothy Bellman wrote on X. "What a f---ing scumbag loser—treating us like we’re stupid."
"Every time Trump mentions Obama, it reminds me that Donald is in the Epstein files," software engineer and progressive influencer Alex Cole tweeted.
"Every word he says here is a lie. Every word," former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.), who is now a Democrat, wrote in response to Trump's remarks.
READ MORE: 'Frantic' Karoline Leavitt suggests new scapegoat to take the fall for Trump's Epstein mess
Click here to read NPR's report in full.