On Saturday morning, U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to respond on Twitter to a report which said Barack Obama was aware of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
On Friday, a Washington Post story stated that the CIA notified Obama that Russian President Vladimir Putin was directly involved in “a cyber campaign to disrupt and discredit the U.S. presidential race.”
The intelligence briefings went on to suggest Putin’s directions were intended to damage, or even potentially prevent Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton from defeating Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
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The following morning, Trump wondered aloud on Twitter why the previous administration did nothing “about election meddling by Russia.”
The Post report went on to say the Obama administration considered how to respond to the cyber-attacks for months before eventually expelling 35 diplomats, closing two Russian compounds as well as installing “largely symbolic” sanctions.
Trump’s alleged ties to Russia have received widespread attention and are currently the focus of several investigations, including by a special counsel and two congressional committees. The president has repeatedly called the investigations a “witch hunt” designed to discredit his presidency.
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While Trump questioned Obama’s response on Saturday, his own administration is not expected to take any action against the Russians despite intelligence reports indicating Russia will try to meddle again in the U.S. mid-term elections 2018, according to NBC News.
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NBC News spoke to state officials who say they have been given very little direction from the federal government over election security.
The report goes on to say that the current administration’s disinterest in fixing the problem, along with an inability to fill vacancies at government security agencies, has resulted in a government unable to address election security issue’s properly.
One White House official denied the government has not taken any action, but told NBC News it has responded in a variety of ways: “…some you’ll see, some you won’t see…You certainly don’t want to telegraph your moves.”
With files from Global News’ Andrew Russell
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