Trump Says House Judiciary Should Investigate Obama Netflix Deal Instead of His Business

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office on Sept. 11, 2019. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

President Donald Trump called for federal lawmakers to probe the deal Netflix reached with former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama instead of probing his own business.

It’s the second time in recent months that the Republican president has called for a probe into a deal the Obamas reached.

Trump wrote on Twitter that the House Judiciary Committee gave up on the report submitted by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, which could not establish collusion between Trump and Russia.

“So they say, OK, lets look at everything else, and all of the deals that ‘Trump’ has done over his lifetime. But it doesn’t work that way,” Trump said, referring to the far-ranging investigation into whether the president has violated the Constitution’s emoluments clauses.

“I have a better idea,” he continued. “Look at the Obama Book Deal, or the ridiculous Netflix deal. Then look at all the deals made by the Dems in Congress, the ‘Congressional Slush Fund,’ and lastly the IG Reports. Take a look at them. Those investigations would be over FAST!

Trump returned to the theme several hours later on Sept. 16, writing that his opposition has failed to trip him up with multiple probes and is now trying to prove he has enriched himself by being president.

“Good idea, except I will, and have always expected to, lose BILLIONS of DOLLARS,” Trump wrote. He later added: “These Radical Left Democrats are CRAZY! Obama Netflix?”

The call for a probe into the Obamas book deal was first made by Trump in July. “They could look into the book deal that President Obama made. Let’s subpoena all of his records,” he said at the time, also calling for a subpoena of all records having to do with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Trump’s 2016 opponent.

According to Publisher’s Weekly, the reported $65 million book deal Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, was inked in 2017 but included few publicly released details.

Michelle Obama’s memoir was released in late 2018 while the former president’s book has not been published as of September.

Netflix announced a deal with the Obamas in May 2018.

“President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama have entered into a multi-year agreement to produce films and series for Netflix, potentially including scripted series, unscripted series, docu-series, documentaries, and features,” the company said in a statement.

The amount for the deal has not been disclosed and there is no indication that either deal is untoward. Trump has not cited evidence in his calls for investigations into the deals.

The first Netflix production linked to the Obamas’ production company was released recently. “American Factory” focuses on a closed-down General Motors plant in Ohio that was bought by a Chinese billionaire and turned into a glass factory. Netflix also released a discussion between the Obamas and the filmmakers.