Obama committed treason and faces a military tribunal
In December 2025 Trump shared QAnon-linked posts claiming Barack Obama committed treason and would face a military tribunal. There is no evidence, and US civilians cannot be tried by military tribunals.
What we know
In December 2025, Trump shared QAnon-associated posts claiming that Barack Obama had committed treason and was awaiting a military tribunal.
There is no evidence that Obama committed treason, and no such proceeding exists. Beyond the lack of evidence, the scenario is legally impossible in the way described: US civilians are not subject to trial by military tribunals. Criminal charges against a former president would go through the ordinary civilian court system.
The military tribunal narrative is a recurring theme in QAnon lore, in which political opponents are supposedly destined for secret military justice. CNN documented Trump amplifying these baseless claims on Truth Social.
The legal impossibility of the scenario is worth spelling out in detail. Under the US Constitution and federal law, military tribunals, formally known as military commissions, have jurisdiction over specific categories of defendants, primarily foreign enemy combatants captured in armed conflict, not American civilians, and certainly not a former president. The Supreme Court's 1866 decision in Ex parte Milligan directly addressed this question, ruling that civilians cannot be tried by military tribunals when civilian courts are open and functioning, a precedent that has never been overturned. Treason itself is a specific crime defined in Article III of the Constitution, requiring either levying war against the United States or giving aid and comfort to enemies, and any such charge would need to be prosecuted in an ordinary federal court with a jury, not through any military process.
Legal analysts who have examined the specific claims made by Trump and allies including Tulsi Gabbard note that the underlying accusations typically point to disputes over the intelligence community's assessment of Russian interference in the 2016 election, a matter that has already been reviewed extensively by the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Mueller investigation, neither of which found evidence supporting a treason charge against Obama. Commentators who have promoted the military tribunal narrative on television or social media have not identified any actual criminal referral, indictment, or court filing supporting the claim, which is why fact-checkers and legal scholars consistently describe it as baseless. Commentators who continue to promote the tribunal narrative on television and social media have not identified any actual criminal referral, sealed indictment, or court filing that would be expected to exist if a genuine legal process were underway, which is consistent with fact-checkers' conclusion that the claim describes a process that has never actually been initiated by any prosecutor or court. The Senate Intelligence Committee's bipartisan investigation into Russian interference, completed over several years and spanning multiple reports, found significant Russian influence efforts but did not conclude that Obama himself engaged in any criminal conduct, let alone treason, further undercutting the basis for the tribunal claim. Legal scholars note that even hypothetically, a former president enjoys the same civilian court protections as any other citizen once out of office.
Common claims
- Obama committed treason.Not supported
- Obama will be tried by a military tribunal.Not supported
Evidence hierarchy
All sources
- Fact check of Trump Truth Social postsCNN · 2025
- The simple proof that Trump and Tulsi Gabbard are wildly and falsely accusing Obama of a capital crimeLaw & Crime · 2025
- Trump claims Obama committed treasonDemocracy Now · 2025
- Fake news: claim Trump arrests top Obama officials for treasonPolitiFact · 2017