A 2017 conspiracy memo that circulated among some of President Donald Trump's advisers accused former Obama officials of undermining the incoming administration, The New Yorker reported.
New Yorker staff writer Adam Entous and contributing writer Ronan Farrow reported the memo — titled "The Echo Chamber" and alleged former aides to President Barack Obama — including Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes and Colin Kahl, a former National Security Adviser to Vice President Joe Biden — were behind the effort.
The memo claimed Rhodes was "likely the brain behind this operation," while describing Kahl as its "likely ops chief."
The operation, the memo claimed, was to "to undermine President Trump's foreign policy" through organized attacks in the press against Trump and his advisers, New Yorker reported.
"These are the Obama loyalists who are probably among those coordinating the daily/weekly battle rhythm," the memo said, adding they likely operated a "virtual war room," New Yorker reported.
The memo is unsigned and undated, and was circulated within the National Security Council and other parts of the Trump White House early last year, the magazine reported.
According to the New Yorker, Trump administration officials offered conflicting accounts of who wrote it and whether it originated inside or outside the White House.
Rhodes and Kahl both said in interviews the allegations are false and no such organization exists.
In a statement, Rhodes described the memo as "a bizarre effort to validate 'deep state' conspiracy theories" and said "given Trump's many efforts to intimidate and malign his critics, it's worth asking how his White House and outside enablers acted on this strange memo."
In an email, Kahl added "the NSC's role is to staff the president and coordinate the interagency on foreign affairs. It is not the NSC's role to conduct military-style network analysis of domestic opponents."
In a tweet, he lashed out at the existence of the memo, calling it a "scandal."
"The fact that a memo like this even exists is a scandal," Kahl tweeted. "The NSC's role to staff the President & coordinate the interagency on foreign policy—it is NOT the job of the NSC to map and target domestic political opponents or collude with outside allies to do so."
Other former Obama administration staffers named as possible members of the alleged group also attacked the memo.
Ronald Klain, Biden's former chief of staff, sarcastically dismissed the conspiracy theory.
"Wow @jonfavs, @TVietor08, @danpfeiffer: who knew that building one of the fastest growing media companies in America was just an elaborate cover for a conspiracy to undermine Trump's foreign policy?" Kalin tweeted.
And Ned Price, who had been a spokesman for the NSC under Obama, called the memo "chilling."
"What's so chilling about this Trump NSC doc — naming several of my former colleagues and me—is that it's written as if it were a study of an overseas terrorist cell targeted by the US govt," he tweeted.
"I used to write those. I never thought I'd see one like this."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.