Obama vows to strike back at Russia over interference
President Obama promised to retaliate against Russia for its attempts to undermine the U.S. elections process, saying that the United States would take action “at a time and place of our own choosing.”
That threat came in an interview with National Public Radio to be broadcast Friday morning. And he said the response may not be obvious. “Some of it may be explicit and publicized; some of it may not be,” he said.
The remarks were the strongest language yet from Obama since the intelligence community concluded in October that the hacking of email accounts belonging to the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign officials was authorized by “Russia’s seniormost officials.”
That, the White House has suggested, means that Russian President Vladimir Putinhimself directed the attacks. Press secretary Josh Earnest said Thursday that it was “pretty obvious that they were referring to the senior-most government official in Russia.”
“So there’s no subtlety. There’s no security clearance required to figure out what happened,” Earnest said.
The allegations of Russian interference were raised during the campaign that ultimately led to Republican Donald Trump’s election as president. But the issue re-erupted last week after Obama ordered an intelligence review of malicious cyber activity by foreign powers in the last three presidential elections. That review is expected to be completed before Jan. 20, when Obama will formally turn over power to Trump on Inauguration Day.
Obama said he could’t put the sole blame for Clinton’s loss on the emails, which were released on Wikileaks and similar websites. But he said they were one factor. “There’s no doubt that it contributed to an atmosphere in which the only focus for weeks at a time, months at a time were Hillary’s emails, the Clinton Foundation, political gossip surrounding the DNC,” he told NPR.
That atmosphere benefited Trump, Obama said — but he made clear that he was not suggesting that Trump himself was actively involved. “They understood what everybody else understood, which was that this was not good for Hillary Clinton’s campaign,” he said.