President Donald Trump baselessly accused former president Barack Obama and others of illegally plotting against him, calling it “treason” and declaring: “It’s time to go after people.”

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office Tuesday during a meeting with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Trump listed Obama, Hillary Clinton, former FBI Director James Comey, former Director of National Intelligence John Brennan and others who he accused of plotting against him and attempting to “rig the election.”

“After what they did to me, whether it’s right or wrong, it’s time to go after people,” Trump said from the Oval Office as he repeated a baseless claim former President Barack Obama and other officials had engaged in treason.

Trump was not making his claims for the first time, but he delivered them when administration officials are harnessing the machinery of the federal government to investigate the targets of Trump’s derision, including key officials responsible for scrutinizing Russia’s attempts to intervene on Trump’s behalf in 2016.

Trump’s tirade unfolded against the backdrop of a new report from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard that represented his administration’s latest attempt to rewrite the history of the Russia investigation, which has infuriated him for years.

The report, released Friday, downplayed the extent of Russian interference in the 2016 election by highlighting Obama administration emails showing officials had concluded before and after the contest that Moscow had not hacked state election systems to manipulate votes in Trump’s favor.

But Obama’s Democratic administration never suggested otherwise even as it exposed other means by which Russia interfered in the election, including through a massive hack-and-leak operation of Democratic emails by intelligence operatives working with WikiLeaks, as well as a covert foreign influence campaign aimed at swaying public opinion and sowing discord through fake social media posts.

Democrats swiftly decried the report as factually flawed and politically motivated.

Russia’s broad interference in 2016 has been established through a series of investigations, including special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and a thorough 2020 Senate Intelligence Committee report that was completed when the panel was led by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who’s now Trump’s secretary of state.

A British man who dreamed of looking like James Bond was convicted on Tuesday of attempting to spy for Russia.

Howard Phillips, 65, attempted to pass information about former Defence Secretary Grant Shapps to two men he believed to be Russian agents. In reality, they were undercover British secret agents.

The jury at Winchester Crown Court found Howard Phillips guilty of aiding what he believed to be a foreign intelligence agency. The unanimous verdict was reached after four hours of deliberation.

He has been remanded in custody and will be sentenced in the autumn. No specific date has been set.

Prosecutors said Mr Phillips had offered to pass on Mr Shapps’ details and the location where he kept his private plane to ‘allow the Russians to eavesdrop on British defence plans’.

The defendant’s ex-wife told the court that Phillips dreamed of being like James Bond’ and that he watched films about the British secret service because he was ‘infatuated’ with it.

Bethan David, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s counter-terrorism division, said the conviction sent a clear message to anyone considering spying for Russia.

‘Mr Phillips was brazen in his pursuit of financial gain, with no regard for the potential harm caused to his own country,’ Ms David said.

Representatives of the Arab League held an emergency meeting in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss the war in Gaza and the unfolding humanitarian crisis inside the enclave. 

Palestine requested the extraordinary session amid the escalating famine threatening the more than 2 million people living in Gaza. 

“Gaza is dying of hunger, Gaza is planned to be [evacuated], a so-called humanitarian city is being prepared for Gaza, a new city of death and prison under humanitarian labels”, said Ahmad Abu Holi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee.

Abu Holi condemned the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has largely taken over aid distribution in the enclave since the end of Israel’s 11-week aid blockade.

He said the Israeli-backed group forces civilians to “fall in killing traps”, or “die from hunger.” 

More than 1,000 starving people have been killed since the end of May, according to the United Nations Palestinian Refugees agency (UNRWA).

The UN food agency, meanwhile, accused Israeli forces of firing on a crowd of Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid over the weekend.

The Gaza Health Ministry called it one of the deadliest attacks on aid-seekers in the war that has driven the territory to the brink of famine.

Jordan’s representative to the Arab League, Amjad Adaileh, said the Arab states “won’t forget the steadfast Gaza whose people are bleeding, suffering and starving, due to the brutal and continuous violations against the [Gaza] Strip for 21 months.”

Several NGOs, including Amnesty International, have accused Israel of using starvation in Gaza as a weapon of genocide. 

In a previous summit, Arab League leaders called for increased pressure on Israel to end the war in Gaza.