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Fox News Poll: Russian hacking did not affect election |
President Obama said Thursday that the U.S. needs to "take action" in
response to cyberattacks on Democratic officials during the recent
presidential campaign, hours after his administration insisted --
without offering proof -- that President-elect Donald Trump "obviously
knew" of the breaches, and suggested that Russian President Vladimir
Putin had personally authorized them.
"I think there is no doubt that when any foreign
government tries to impact the integrity of our elections ... we need to
take action," Obama said in an interview scheduled to air Friday on
National Public Radio. "And we will — at a time and place of our own
choosing. Some of it may be explicit and publicized; some of it may not
be."
Earlier Thursday, Press Secretary Josh Earnest told
reporters during the daily White House briefing that "Mr. Trump
obviously knew that Russia was engaged in malicious cyber activity that
was helping him, [and] hurting [Democrat Hillary] Clinton ... "These are
all facts that are not in dispute."
Earnest pointed out that Trump had encouraged Moscow
during a news conference to find missing emails from Clinton's private
server. Trump has said he was joking.
"I don't think anybody at the White House thinks it's
funny that an adversary of the United States engaged in malicious cyber
activity to destabilize our democracy," Earnest said. "That's not a
joke."
Earnest, without mentioning Russian President Putin
by name, also said "only Russia's senior-most officials could have
authorized these activities," repeating the words from an October U.S.
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.
Trump fired back Thursday evening, calling Earnest "foolish" during a "Thank You" rally in Hershey, Pa.
"I don't know if he's talking to President Obama,"
Trump said of Earnest, without addressing the hacking controversy
directly. "You know, having the right press secretary's so important.
Because he is so bad, the way he delivers a message ... The president is
very positive, but he's not positive. And I mean, maybe he's getting
his orders from somebody else? Does that make sense? Could that be
possible?"
The White House officials' comments only escalate the
feud between Trump allies and Democratic figures over Russia's alleged
hacking.
U.S. intelligence officials have linked the hacking
to Russia's intelligence agency and its military intelligence division.
Moscow has denied all accusations that it orchestrated the hacking of
email accounts of Democratic Party officials and Clinton's campaign
chief, John Podesta, and then leaked them to the anti-secrecy website
WikiLeaks.
But lawmakers seeking a briefing this week on
potential conflicts in the record about Russia's role were rebuffed,
fueling GOP concerns on Capitol Hill about what the intelligence says.
U.S. officials have not contended that Trump would
have been defeated by Clinton on Nov. 8 if not for Russia's assistance.
Nor has there has 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 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 president-elect 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.
Trump and his supporters insist the Democrats'
outrage about Russia is really an attempt to undermine the validity of
his election victory. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., a Trump ally, called it
"disgraceful" as he spoke to reporters amassed in Trump Tower after
meeting with the president-elect.
"Right now, certain elements of the media, certain
elements of the intelligence community and certain politicians are
really doing the work of the Russians," King said.
There has been no specific, persuasive evidence
shared publicly about the extent of Putin's role or knowledge of the
hackings. That lack of proof undercuts Democrats' strategy to portray
Putin's involvement as irrefutable evidence of a directed Russian
government plot to undermine America's democratic system.