PUTIN ‘INVOLVED IN US HACKING’
Obama pledges US will respond to Russian cyber interference
White House suspects the President-elect must have known about Russian hacking, which actions, according to Obama administration, had helped Donald Trump’s campaign Kremlin flatly rejects the claim of Putin’s involvement, with his spokesman dismissing it on Thursday as ‘laughable nonsense’
WASHINGTON—The Obama administration suggested on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally authorized the hacking of Democratic officials’ email accounts in the run-up to the presidential election and said it was a “fact” that such actions helped Donald Trump’s campaign.
President Barack Obama says the United States must and will take action against Russia in response to cyber interference with the election.
The White House also assailed Trump himself, saying he must have known of Russia’s interference.
No proof was offered for any of the accusations, the latest to unsettle America’s uneasy transition from eight years under Democratic President Barack Obama to a new Republican administration led by Trump.
The claims of Russian meddling in the election also have heightened already debilitating tensions between Washington and Moscow over Syria, Ukraine and a host of other disagreements.
“Only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, repeating the words from an October US intelligence assessment.
Obama’s deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, connected the dots further, saying it was Putin who was responsible for the Russian government’s actions.
“I don’t think things happen in the Russian government of this consequence without Vladimir Putin knowing about it,” Rhodes said on MSNBC.
The explosive accusation paints Putin, the leader of perhaps the nation’s greatest geopolitical foe, as having directly undermined US democracy.
US officials have not contended, however, that Trump would have been defeated by Hillary Clinton on Nov. 8 if not for Russia’s assistance.
Nor has there been any indication of tampering with the vote-counting.
The Kremlin flatly rejected the claim of Putin’s involvement, with Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissing it on Thursday as “laughable nonsense.”
The dispute over Russia’s role is fueling an increasingly public spat between Obama’s White House and Trump’s team that is threatening to spoil the delicate truce that Obama and Trump have forged since election day.
Although the president and presidentelect have avoided criticizing each other publicly since Trump’s win, their aides have been more openly antagonistic.
Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s senior transition adviser, said it was “breathtaking” and irresponsible that the White House had suggested Trump knew Russia was interfering to help his campaign.
That led Earnest on Thursday to unload, arguing that Trump, who has dismissed the CIA’s assessment of Russian interference, should spend less time attacking the intelligence community and more time supporting the investigation that Obama has ordered.
Earnest said it was “obvious” Trump knew what Russia was doing during the campaign, pointing out that Trump had encouraged Moscow during a news conference to find Clinton’s missing emails.