Tulsi Gabbard's 'treason' allegation triggers an Obama world high-wire act

Former Obama aides say they have to balance between unnecessarily giving oxygen to unfounded Trump administration claims and allowing them to balloon unchecked.

To former aides who worked in Barack Obama’s White House, the Trump administration’s allegations of “treason” carried the stench of desperation from a president straining to shift the focus from a burgeoning scandal around Jeffrey Epstein.

Still, they’re grappling with how to contain the unprecedented accusations National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard has leveled, even as they dismiss them as asinine, interviews with more than half a dozen people who worked in Obama’s White House or on his campaigns reveal.

These people say the events of the last week have turned into a messaging balancing act between unnecessarily giving oxygen to the claims that Obama ordered a false intelligence analysis to show Russia had worked to help Trump win the 2016 election and leaving the potential for unchecked accusations to balloon. Many of those who talked to NBC News were not authorized to speak publicly about strategy.

“The battle now is to play this even to make sure that thoughts don’t start to creep into more mainstream” audiences, a former Obama administration official said. That person said it was important to reach "mainstream Republicans," who would listen to editorial boards and those in Congress who deemed the allegations against Obama as "beyond the pale."

Some expressed uncertainty over what to expect next from Trump or his lieutenants, charging that the administration could grow more bullish to draw attention away from a string of explosive Epstein stories that Trump is struggling to tamp down. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but it has said there is merit to accusations around Obama.