White House faults Obama on Russian hacking

The White House blamed the Obama administration Sunday for failing to tackle possible Russian collusion in the 2016 presidential election, sticking with a new strategy to fault President Donald Trump’s predecessor for an issue currently facing the president himself as part of a widening FBI probe.

Appearing on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday morning, Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, struck a combative tone, saying: “It’s the Obama administration that was responsible for doing absolutely nothing from August to January with the knowledge that Russia was hacking into our election. They did absolutely nothing. They’re responsible for this.”

Then, referring to a Washington Post story last week that chronicled in detail the intense debate within the Obama White House on how to handle the mounting threat posed by Russia to the United States’s democratic process, she said: “I have a hacking question for the Obama administration: Why did you, quote, choke, in the name of one of their senior administration officials? Why did you do nothing? Why didn’t you inform candidate Trump?”

Conway was referring to a quotation in the article by a former senior Obama administration official involved in the Russia discussions who said the Obama White House’s handling of the Russia hacking was “the hardest thing” for him to defend from his time in government, and added, “I feel like we sort of choked.”

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., the Democratic minority leader, rejected Conway’s remarks in an interview immediately after hers on the show, noting that the Obama administration is “no longer in charge” and calling on the White House to support a bipartisan Senate bill that imposes additional sanctions on Russia and Iran. The White House is currently lobbying against the bill.

“The American people are scratching their heads,” Schumker said. Knowing his relationship with Putin, they’re saying why the heck is he opposing strengthening sanctions?”