President-elect Donald Trump and his transition team are firing back at the White House over the suggestion that he knew Russia’s meddling in the U.S. presidential election was being done in an effort to throttle his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
“If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act?” Trump tweeted on Thursday. “Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?”
In the weeks leading up to the November election, WikiLeaks published a series of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and others. In October, 17 U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA, officially concluded that Russia was behind the hack.
The White House has faced criticism for its apparent reluctance to respond forcefully to the cyberintrusion. The Washington Post reported last week that Obama administration officials were “concerned about escalating tensions with Moscow and being accused of trying to boost Clinton’s campaign” and ultimately advised against a public counterattack.
But in an interview that aired on “The Daily Show” earlier this week, President Obama said there was no doubt Russia’s interference in the election was done in an effort to help Trump win.
“I don’t think there was any doubt among anybody in the media or among members of Congress as to who was being advantaged or disadvantaged by the political gossip that was being put out in drip, drip, drip fashion up to the election,” Obama said.
On Wednesday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Trump was “obviously aware” of Russia’s intentions, considering that Trump publicly encouraged Russia to locate Clinton’s emails from the personal server she used while she was secretary of state. “I will tell you this, Russia: If you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump said at a news conference in July.
“There was ample evidence that was known long before the election, and in most cases long before October, about the Trump campaign in Russia, everything from the Republican nominee himself calling on Russia to hack his opponent,” Earnest said. “It might be an indication that he was obviously aware.”
Kellyanne Conway, senior adviser to the Trump transition, condemned Earnest’s comments.
“That is just breathtaking,” Conway said in an appearance on “Fox and Friends” Thursday. “I guess he’s auditioning to be a political pundit.”
“That is incredibly disappointing to hear from the podium of the White House,” she continued. “He essentially stated that the president-elect had knowledge of this, maybe even fanned the flames. It’s incredibly irresponsible, and I wonder if his boss, President Obama, agrees.”
In his “Daily Show” interview, Obama seized on Trump’s Russian outreach too.
“The president-elect, in some of his political events, specifically said to the Russians, ‘Hack Hillary’s emails so that we can finally find out what’s going on and confirm our conspiracy theories,’” Obama said. “You had what was very clear relationships between members of the president-elect’s campaign team and Russians, and a professed shared view on a bunch of issues.”
On Friday, the Washington Post reported that the CIA “concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency.”
Trump trashed the reported assessment, calling it “just another excuse” pushed by the Democrats to undercut his stunning victory.
“I think it’s ridiculous,” Trump said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I don’t believe it.”
On Monday, Trump doubled down.
“Can you imagine if the election results were the opposite and WE tried to play the Russia/CIA card,” Trump tweeted. “It would be called conspiracy theory!”
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