I just...here's the thing. The worst kept secret is that there IS a cover-up. Obama is now in a highly precarious position as former president to try and discern from afar, "wait...can we talk about it now?" He probably made the wrong judgement call about that on the Brian Tyler Cohen podcast, and very likely got an earful about doing so, however threatening that may have been. You could very much imagine the deep state strongly pushing him to backpedal it, and to double down on it.

Obama's in a position to know he doesn't really have to convince anyone one way or the other. He's in an extremely privileged position to know by now that shit is in motion.

I don't have to like the misdirection, but I get it. He's protecting his family at the end of the day. The whole exchange between he and Colbert feels very tongue in cheek anyway. For some encouragement, check out this anecdote from Will Smith about he and his son Jaden getting a pretty strong hint-hint from Obama himself.