As embarrassed by the Jeffrey Epstein affair, US President Donald Trump is trying to turn the attention of his supporters and the public to Barack Obama, escalating his attacks on the former president, even going so far as to accuse him of “treason.”

In welcoming Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos to the White House on Tuesday, Trump was asked about developments in the case of Epstein, the American financier who died in prison in 2019 ahead of his sex crimes trial.

“I’m not following it very closely,” said President Trump, who has been criticized by some supporters for breaking promises to shed light on the case. The death of Epstein, a friend of many stars and powerful politicians, as well as Trump, fueled a host of conspiracy theories that he was murdered to prevent the revelations he could make about highly visible people.

But Trump launched a fierce attack on former President Barack Obama, whom he called “guilty of treason”. He portrayed him as a “gang leader”, claiming he was trying to cause a “coup”. “That’s what you should be talking about,” the Republican president told reporters, after strongly criticizing the press.

Trump has accused Obama, as well as Hillary Clinton, his rival in the 2016 presidential election, of spreading false information about Russian interference in the campaign that first put him in the White House. He has repeatedly denounced U.S. intelligence findings that alleged a Moscow campaign of cyberattacks and social media manipulation efforts to promote Trump’s candidacy and discredit Hillary Clinton.

In recent days Trump has escalated his attacks on Obama as the Epstein affair has come back into the spotlight. On Sunday, he released a fake video on the Truth Social platform showing Barack Obama being arrested in the Oval Office by FBI agents, with music playing… the song “YMCA” by the Village People.

“It’s time to go after some people,” Donald Trump said Tuesday, suggesting the Justice Department had sufficient evidence to proceed with prosecutions.

A statement was issued by Obama’s office stressing that the document released last week by Director of National Intelligence Talcy Gabbard does not call into question the “widely accepted conclusion” that Russia sought to influence the 2016 presidential election. Commenting on Trump’s accusations of “treason,” Obama’s office calls them “bizarre and ridiculous accusations” and a “feeble attempt at diversion.”