Democrats say former President Obama needs to hold the line when it comes to documents released by Trump officials that claim Obama's administration sought to “rig” the 2016 election.

They don’t want him to get in the mud with President Trump at a moment when Republicans are divided over the Epstein files controversy and Democrats are on offense.

And they see efforts such as Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s appearance at a White House briefing Wednesday as an effort to misdirect.

“No matter how much Trump and Fox are trying to drag it up, the base is still tearing them apart on the Epstein documents, so no need to interrupt them punching themselves in the face,” Democratic strategist Eddie Vale said, referring to cable news coverage of the controversies.

In interviews on Wednesday, Democratic operatives — some of whom worked for the former president — and donors echoed Vale’s sentiments, underscoring that Obama shouldn’t belittle himself and engage with Trump. Accordingly, Democrats are praising Obama for his restraint thus far as Trump

© The Hill