 "Obama says US being cautious in handling Russian election hacks")
President Barack Obama said the US government took a cautious approach to allegations the Russians had hacked Democratic Party officials before the election out of concern that the issue would escalate or become politicised.
“I wanted to make sure we were playing this thing straight,” Obama said Friday at his final end-of-the-year news conference at the White House, defending his administration against criticism that it didn’t more aggressively combat the hacking.
“My principal goal leading up to the election was making sure the election itself went off without a hitch, it was not tarnished, and it did not feed any sense in the public that somehow tampering had taken place with the actual process of voting,” Obama said. "And we accomplished that.”
The Central Intelligence Agency has reportedly determined that Russian president Vladimir Putin directed the hack in an effort to buoy the candidacy of Republican Donald Trump, enraging many Democrats who believe the election was unfair. Obama called on Trump, who has openly challenged the administration’s determination of Russian culpability, to back a nonpartisan independent probe of the election and the hacks. The president also challenged Americans who support Putin or who doubt US intelligence agencies, warning that such thinking left the nation susceptible to foreign meddling.
Putin’s involvement
Obama declined to say that Putin personally was involved in the hacking but said: “Not much happens in Russia without Vladimir Putin.” He said he had high confidence Moscow was responsible for attacks on the e-mails of both the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, Jon Podesta. But he said the government would not be able to provide classified evidence of Russia’s involvement that might reveal the US intelligence community’s sources and methods.
Russia backed off the hacking after Obama personally warned Putin against further cyberattacks during a visit to China in September, the president said. But by then, the Democratic e-mails were in the hands of Wikileaks, which released them over the course of the general election campaign, prolonging the damage to Clinton. Obama declined to say that the hacks cost her the election.
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“I’m gonna let all the political pundits in this town have a long discussion about what happened in this election,” he said. “I don’t think she was treated fairly during the election. The coverage of her, and the issues, was troubling.”
US retaliation
Still, Obama vowed that the US would respond to Russia in a “thoughtful, methodical way.” “Our goal continues to be to send a clear message to Russia or others not to do this to us, because we can do stuff to you,” he said.
The Kremlin has denied involvement in the e-mail leaks, and spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Tokyo on Friday the US should prove its accusations against Russia.
“Either stop talking about it or finally provide some evidence. Otherwise it looks indecent,” Peskov said in Japan, where Putin is meeting with Japanese leaders.
Trump complaints
The renewed focus on the Russian hack has prompted complaints from the Trump transition team that the White House is attempting to undermine the Republican’s victory. The administration announced late last week plans to issue a report on electoral cyberattacks before Obama leaves office on January 20.
The White House and Trump team have traded escalating insults in recent days that threaten the detente between Trump and Obama, who has sought a working relationship with his successor partially in a bid to preserve some of his policies. It’s also blurred traditional party lines in Washington, with some Republicans expressing alarm over Russia’s attempts to influence an election ultimately won by their nominee and some Democrats upset the White House didn’t more aggressively confront the Kremlin before Election Day.
In a tweet early Friday, Trump tried to return attention to revelations in e-mails revealed by the alleged Russian hack.
Source: Bloomberg