United States President Donald Trump on Saturday questioned why former President Barack Obama’s administration did not do more to stop the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election. Trump claimed Obama had known about the accusations well before the November 8 polls and had done nothing.
“Since the Obama administration was told way before the 2016 election that the Russians were meddling, why no action? Focus on them, not T,” the president wrote on Twitter. “[An] Obama administration official said they ‘choked’ when it came to acting on Russian meddling of election. They didn’t want to hurt Hillary?”
The president’s comments came after a June 23 article in The Washington Post, which revealed that Obama had learned last August of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “direct involvement” in Mosow’s interference in the election. The article said sources deep within the Russian government had told Obama early last August that Putin was “directly involved in a cyber campaign to disrupt the election, injure Hillary Clinton and aid a Trump victory”.
Obama debated dozens of options to punish Russia but ultimately settled on expelling 35 Russian diplomatic officials and closing two of its compounds, the WaPo article read.
Trump is being investigated for his alleged role in Russian meddling into the US election in November 2016. He has dismissed claims that his campaign associates had colluded with Moscow. Even Russia has repeatedly denied the allegation of orchestrating cyber attacks during the polls.
Earlier, former FBI Director James Comey had stated before the US Senate Intelligence Committee that he was certain he was fired because of the president’s concerns about the Russia investigation.
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