Thursday, December 15, 2016

Obama: ‘We Will’ Take Action Against Government That Meddled in US Election

President Barack Obama says the United States will take action against Russia or any other foreign government that tries to meddle in U.S. elections.

“I think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections … we need to take action. And we will,” the president told National Public Radio in an interview to be broadcast Friday morning.

“Some of it may be explicit and publicized, some of it may not be,” he added.

Putin involvement

The CIA has concluded that Russian hackers broke into the Democratic Party computers to leak potentially embarrassing emails about the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign with the apparent aim of helping Republican Donald Trump win last month’s election.

Top White House officials say such a thing could not have happened without Russian President Vladimir Putin’s involvement or direct knowledge.

Obama told NPR that there is still a “whole range of assessments” going on among U.S. intelligence agencies, and he is waiting for a final report on exactly who was involved and why they did it.

“But that does not in any way detract from the basic point that everyone during the election perceived accurately that in fact what the Russian hack had done was create more problems for the Clinton campaign than it had for the Trump campaign.”

Did it cost Clinton election?

Obama declined to say whether he thought the Russian computer hacking cost Hillary Clinton the election. He said many factors can make the difference in a presidential vote, but there was no doubt it had an impact.

He also would not say whether he believed the Trump campaign played any role in the hacking other than exploiting the leaked emails for political advantage.

FILE - President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the Wisconsin State Fair Exposition Center in West Allis, Wisconsin, Dec. 13, 2016.

FILE – President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the Wisconsin State Fair Exposition Center in West Allis, Wisconsin, Dec. 13, 2016.

Obama said he is mystified by Trump’s insistence that Russia did not hack into Democratic Party computers and by the president-elect’s pro-Russian stance.

“There’s been a pretty sizable wing of the Republican Party that has consistently criticized me for not being tough enough on Russia. Some of those folks during the campaign endorsed Donald Trump … that kind of inconsistency I think makes it appear at least that their particular position on Russia on any given day depends on what’s politically expedient.”

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