Trump's forever grudge ties Epstein files to Russia "hoax"

• Seizing on new criminal referrals by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Trump on Sunday posted an AI-generated video on Truth Social showing Obama being arrested by the FBI.
• It's the kind of trollish meme Trump shared often while out of office — but that now carries new weight, as his Justice Department escalates efforts to target his longtime political enemies.

Driving the news: After weeks of stewing over the Epstein scandal, MAGA was jolted by a new memo from Gabbard accusing Obama administration officials of a "treasonous conspiracy" to sabotage Trump's presidency in 2016.

• The "new evidence" centers on findings from the Obama-era intelligence community that Russia didn't alter vote tallies by hacking election infrastructure.
• Gabbard alleges that senior Obama officials suppressed or manipulated these internal assessments to support a broader narrative that Russia had intervened in the 2016 election to help Trump.

Reality check: No serious investigation ever claimed Russia changed actual vote tallies.

• The FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia focused largely on Moscow's influence campaign, including the hacking and leaking of Democratic emails.
• Special counsel Robert Mueller and the GOP-led Senate Intelligence Committee — where now–Secretary of State Marco Rubio was a senior member — both concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump win.

What they're saying: "As is always the case, President Trump was right about the Obama-Biden administration's clear involvement in the greatest witch hunt in American history and the genesis of the decade-long hoax saga that tore our nation apart and undermined the will of the people," White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a statement.

• The Justice Department declined to comment.

Zoom in: Gabbard's claims of a "years-long coup" against Trump landed exactly as intended — exhilarating a MAGA base that has grown restless over the president's attempts to move on from the Epstein case.

• With Gabbard referring the findings to the Justice Department, MAGA is now primed to expect prosecutions of Obama, Clinton, former FBI director James Comey, former CIA director John Brennan and other high-profile officials.
• But as with the Epstein files, there's a real risk of overpromising and underdelivering — both in terms of alienating supporters and further politicizing the justice system.

The big picture: Trump is going on offense against his political enemies more aggressively than perhaps any point in his two terms, emboldened by a hungry base and a compliant Justice Department.

• He posted a meme on Truth Social showing Obama and seven of his former officials in prison jumpsuits, with the caption: "HOW DID [former Obama aide] SAMANTHA POWER MAKE ALL THAT MONEY???"
• He has called for Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) — a top promoter of the Trump-Russia allegations — to be prosecuted for mortgage fraud.
• Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has been at the center of the Epstein firestorm, released new information Monday about the FBI's 2016 investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server.

Between the lines: The Russia probe helped fuel MAGA's belief that America is controlled by a powerful, immoral "Deep State" that uses the justice system to protect itself and persecute its enemies.

• But nothing cuts closer to the emotional core of that worldview than the Epstein files — a symbol of elite depravity, secrecy and two-tiered justice that Trump was supposedly chosen to expose.
• In recent days, the Wall Street Journal and other outlets have ramped up their reporting on Trump's ties to the notorious sex trafficker, who once moved in the same elite social circles as the now-president.

The bottom line: That's what makes the current backlash so dangerous to Trump — and part of why he's flooding the zone with new threats, distractions and red meat for the MAGA base.

Axios' Tal Axelrod contributed reporting.