Trump hijacks press con with Marcos to attack Obama

MANILA, Philippines — United States President Donald Trump turned his joint press conference with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. into an attack on Barack Obama on Tuesday, July 22, accusing the former president of "treason" while Marcos sat quietly beside him. 

The question-and-answer at the Oval Office — held before Trump and Marcos' formal bilateral meeting — quickly devolved when reporters sought Trump's comments on a long-time associate of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 

Trump dodged the question and instead launched into a rambling tirade against Obama, who he accused without evidence of trying to sabotage his first term by linking him to Russian election interference.

"The witch hunt that you should be talking about is they caught President Obama absolutely cold," Trump told reporters.

"This was treason ... They tried to steal the election," the US president added. 

Tiny gains in Washington. Marcos arrived at the bilateral meeting with Trump riding high on momentum from the previous day, having secured strong defense and security assurances from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

But the president eventually walked away from his meeting with Trump securing only a tiny reduction in US tariffs on Philippine goods: from 20% to 19%, a levy that is still above the 17% that the US initially set in April. 

Speaking to reporters, neither Trump nor Marcos disclosed specifics of the trade agreement, though Trump quipped that Marcos was a “tough negotiator.”

Trump's opening remarks before the free-wheeling press conference praised US-Philippine relations and even the legacy of the Marcos family, saying: "We're going to be talking about trade, war and peace. They're an important nation, militarily... We have some fantastic military relations with the Philippines."

"You couldn't be happier right, with the relationship?" Trump said.

Trump jumps in. When a reporter directed questions to Marcos about more US missile deployments in the Philippines — which have upset China — Marcos said these are part of the Philippine military's modernization program in response to threats in the South China Sea. 

"Like in any kind of military spending, we would wish that it wasn't necessary, but it is," Marcos said. "And so that is what we are doing."

Marcos added that the Philippines was also increasing its interactions with other countries besides the US, "even countries as far afield as the Scandinavian countries [and] the EU."

Trump jumped in to discuss this administration's previous military operations in the Philippines. 

"Don't forget, just as tantamount to what you're asking, the Philippines were loaded up with ISIS and a lot of terrorists, and they were at a very, very dangerous point," Trump said. "And during my administration, we went in and we wiped them out."

"They had a tremendous problem during my administration. We cleaned it up, we got them out, and now you really have a good, solid country again," Trump added. 

"I believe so. Yes," Marcos said.

Trump’s tirade up close. Even with Marcos and other Philippine officials sitting beside him, Trump, in typical fashion, had no qualms pushing conspiracy theories during the press conference. 

Asked about the Epstein case, Trump veered off-topic and gave a meandering response that repeated falsehoods about his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden and the Russia probe during his first term. He accused former President Barack Obama of being the “ringleader” of a plot — alongside Hillary Clinton and other Democrats — to “steal the election,” saying they had done things “nobody has ever even imagined, even in other countries.”

“You’ve seen… this man has seen some pretty rough countries,” Trump said, motioning to Marcos, “but you’ve never seen anything like it,” drawing uneasy laughter from the room.

Trump or his team has never substantiated allegations of massive fraud and cheating during the 2020 elections, with US-based fact-checkers consistently debunking such claims.

Obama's office later issued a rare statement calling Trump's allegations on Tuesday "outrageous" and "ridiculous." 

Marcos is currently on a three-day official visit to the US. With him are other members of the Cabinet: Foreign Affairs Secretary Theresa Lazaro, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., Trade and Investments Secretary Christina Roque, National Security Adviser Eduardo Año, Presidential Communications Office Secretary Dave Gomez, Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs Frederick Go, and Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez.  — with reports by Jean Mangaluz