Top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee slams Obama administration’s response to Russian hacks and says he ‘should have done a lot more’
- Representative Adam Schiff made the comments yesterday on CNN
- The Obama administration imposed sanctions in December on two Russian intelligence agencies over alleged involvement in hacking political groups
- But those sanctions were ‘too little, too late,’ Schiff said
The top Democrat on the U.S. House Intelligence Committee on Sunday criticized the administration of former President Barack Obama for not taking earlier and tougher action against Russia for its alleged hacks aimed at swaying the Nov. 8 election for Donald Trump.
‘The Obama administration should have done a lot more when it became clear that not only was Russia intervening, but it was being directed at the highest levels of the Kremlin,’ said Representative Adam Schiff on CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ program.
The Obama administration imposed sanctions in December on two Russian intelligence agencies over their alleged involvement in hacking political groups during the election, but those sanctions were too little, too late, Schiff said.
Adam Schiff said the Obama administration ‘should have done a lot more’ when it realised that Russia was intervening in the elections from the highest levels of the Kremlin
Schiff and his Senate counterpart, Dianne Feinstein, issued an unusual public statement in September condemning Russia for the alleged hacks.
‘We had to vet that with the intelligence community, but we took that step because we weren’t succeeding in getting the administration to do it itself,’ Schiff said.
Schiff said that the Obama administration ‘should have done a lot more’ when it became clear that was Russia intervening and it was being directed at the highest levels of the Kremlin
Donald Trump lashed out at his predecessor today, saying Barack Obama knew about Russia’s election meddling but sat on his hands because he hoped it would benefit his party’s presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton.
And he asked for an apology from Democrats who have accused him of conspiring with Vladimir Putin’s regime to swing the White House contest in his favor.
‘The reason that President Obama did NOTHING about Russia after being notified by the CIA of meddling is that he expected Clinton would win and did not want to “rock the boat”,’ the president wrote on Twitter.
Donald Trump lashed out at Barack Obama, saying he knew about Russia’s election meddling but did nothing because he hoped it would benefit Hillary Clinton.
Leakers have claimed Obama knew that Putin had ordered election hacks, but he failed to act because he thought Hillary Clinton would win anyway.
But amid confidence that Clinton still had the election in the bag and worries over Obama himself being seen as manipulating the election, the administration delivered warnings to Moscow but left countermeasures until after the vote.