• President Donald Trump refused to explain the meaning behind the “Obamagate” conspiracy theory he and his allies have been promoting.
  • The president has amplified the theory in several tweets in recent days, at one point calling it the “biggest political crime in American history, by far!”
  • But when asked at a Monday press conference what the theory is, Trump refused, saying instead: “You know what the crime is. The crime is very obvious to everybody.”
  • The theory claims that former President Barack Obama tried to undermine Trump’s presidency by plotting an FBI investigation into Michael Flynn, Trump’s national security adviser at the time.
  • There is no public evidence to back up this claim.
  • The Department of Justice recently dropped its charges against Flynn, even though he had twice pleaded guilty of lying to the FBI about his communications with Russia. Obama had excoriated the DOJ’s decision.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

President Donald Trump declined to explain “Obamagate,” a conspiracy theory he and his allies have repeatedly spread in recent days, saying only that it’s “obvious to everybody.”

Trump has tweeted and retweeted posts about this conspiracy several times in recent days, even saying on Sunday that it represented “the biggest political crime in American history, by far!”

But when asked to specify on Monday what “Obamagate” is, Trump refused.

In response to a question from Washington Post reporter Philip Rucker, he said the purported crime had been going on since before he was elected, calling it a "disgrace."

"If you look at what's gone on and you look at now, all this information that's being released, and from what I understand that's only the beginning," the president continued.

"Some terrible things happened and it should never be allowed to happen in our country again. And you'll be seeing what's going on over the coming weeks. And I wish you'd write honestly about it but unfortunately you choose not to do so."

When pressed on the question again, Trump responded: "You know what the crime is. The crime is very obvious to everybody."

He added that "all you have to do is read the newspapers," before saying to Rucker: "Except yours."

Michael Flynn

Foto: Michael Flynn. Source: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

The "Obamagate" conspiracy theory accuses former President Barack Obama of trying to undermine Trump's presidency by plotting an FBI investigation into Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser, as Business Insider's Tom Porter has explained.

There is no public evidence to back up this charge against Obama.

The Department of Justice recently dropped its charges against Flynn even though he had twice pleaded guilty of lying to the FBI about his communications with Russia before Trump became president.

Obama had excoriated this decision in a private conversation that was leaked to Yahoo News. In the call, the former president warned that the "rule of law is at risk" under Trump.