A rumor is circulating online that U.S. President Donald Trump warned former President Barack Obama to stay out of U.S. foreign affairs or he would risk violating the Hatch Act, a federal law that restricts political activities by government employees.
For example, David J Harris Jr., host of “The Pulse” podcast on the right-leaning news network Newsmax, posted (archived) in late April 2025, gaining over 4,000 reactions and 1,200 comments:
President Trump has officially warned Barack Obama to stay out of America’s foreign affairs or else face charges for violating the Hatch Act.
This is after Obama made plans to visit El Salvador on his way to the NATO Summit in Costa Rica, which Trump was NOT invited to. Nor would he go.
“He has no authority to speak on behalf of the United States.”
If Obama is brave enough to go, he’ll face US marshals on his return.
Variations on the rumor also spread on social media platforms including X and Instagram.
Some readers seemed to interpret the rumor as a factual recounting of real-life events. However, there was no evidence that Trump issued any warning to Obama regarding U.S. foreign affairs or the Hatch Act.
There was also no evidence of a NATO summit scheduled in Costa Rica, as the country is not a member of NATO and has no formal affiliation with the alliance. NATO summits are always held in a NATO member country and the next official one is scheduled to take place in The Hague, Netherlands, from June 24 to 26, 2025. A Google search also found no proof that Obama “plans to visit El Salvador,” as social media posts asserted.
Additionally, the purpose of the Hatch Act, enacted in 1939 and officially titled “An Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities,” is to prohibit certain political activities by federal employees “to ensure that federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion, to protect federal employees from political coercion in the workplace, and to ensure that federal employees are advanced based on merit and not based on political affiliation.” The law does not apply to former federal officials or private citizens, including former presidents like Obama.
Rather, the rumor about Trump threatening Obama with the Hatch Act originated with America’s Last Line of Defense (ALLOD) — a network of Facebook pages and websites whose owner or owners described its output as being satirical in nature. A small “ALLOD” watermark is visible in the bottom right corner of the image attached to the Facebook posts that spread the rumor.
The ALLOD network’s primary Facebook page describes its content as “satire/parody” and an “entertainment website.” Its Intro section reads, “Nothing on this page is real.”
The ALLOD network has a history of making up stories for shares and comments. The About Page of the Dunning-Kruger Times, a website associated with ALLOD, states:
Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined. Any similarities between this site’s pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical. See above if you’re still having an issue with that satire thing.
The fictional story spread after Trump deported alleged gang members from Venezuela and El Salvador to the Centre for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT), a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. Trump also made comments suggesting he was contemplating deporting convicted U.S. citizens to El Salvador.
Snopes has addressed similar satirical claims originating from this account in the past, including the assertion that the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency stopped an annual payment of $2.6 million to Obama for “royalties associated with Obamacare” and a rumor that Ford planned to move four factories, along with 25,000 high-paying jobs, back to the U.S. thanks to Trump’s 2025 tariffs.
For background, here is why we alert readers to rumors created by sources that call their output humorous or satirical.