Washington DC - The White House pulled out all the stops Wednesday to promote claims that Barack Obama headed a "treasonous conspiracy" against Donald Trump, seeking to redirect public attention from uproar over its handling of the Jeffrey Epstein affair.

In the Trump administration's latest astonishing attack on Obama, intelligence chief Gabbard told a White House press briefing there had been a "years-long coup" by the former president.

She touted newly declassified intelligence that she said provided supposedly "irrefutable evidence" that Obama had ordered intelligence assessments to be manipulated in order to implicate Russia in election interference for Trump's benefit.

Gabbard also made wild claims about Hillary Clinton. Drawing on purported Russian intelligence, she accused the former Democratic presidential candidate of treating "psycho-emotional problems" with "tranquilizers" during the 2016 election.

Donald Trump Detroit automakers slam Trump's Japan trade deal as "bad" for US workers

Donald Trump Trump reduces Philippines tariffs after visit from "tough negotiator" Marcos

The Justice Department announced the formation of a "Strike Force" to examine the allegations with "utmost seriousness."

But Gabbard's findings run up against four separate criminal, counterintelligence, and watchdog probes between 2019 and 2023 – each of them concluding that Russia did interfere and did, in various ways, help Trump.

The spectacle served as a distraction from the intensifying speculation over Trump's handling of the case against the late sex offender Epstein, bolstered on Wednesday by revelations that the Republican was told his named appeared multiple times in files related to the financier.

Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung called this "fake news" and claimed the president had long ago broken with Epstein and "kicked him out of his club for being a creep."