What is ‘Obamagate,’ anyway? And how does it involve Michael Flynn?

The unmasking battle over Flynn may help explain the nebulous alleged scandal, for which Trump was unable to name any specific crimes this week.

This past week, President Trump threw out a major, unfounded allegation out there about former president Barack Obama without much explanation of what he’s actually alleging. The gist of the allegation is that before he left office, Obama’s administration committed some sort of crime to undermine Trump’s presidency. #Obamagate, he called it, in a tweet on Mother’s Day and several since.

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump

He got caught, OBAMAGATE! https://twitter.com/mikandynothem/status/1259556010408075264 

Michael Nöthem@mikandynothem

Barack Hussain Obama is the first Ex-President to ever speak against his successor, which was long tradition of decorum and decency.
Should anyone really be surprised?#TrumpsJealousOfObama? I SERIOUSLY doubt it…#ObamaGate #MAGA#KAG #FoxNews

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It seems Trump is keeping his allegation intentionally vague. “You know what the crime is,” he said Monday when asked by reporters what he meant and what specific crimes he was alleging. Pressed, Trump was unable to name any.

But we got some clues on Wednesday that it may be connected to two things close to Trump’s heart:

  1. Trump’s full-scale effort to undermine the Russia investigation that dominated nearly the first two years of his presidency and swept up many of his top aides, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
  2. Trump’s reelection efforts