Trump faults Obama for US response to Russian hacking

The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Saturday scolded the Obama administration for not responding aggressively enough to Russian hacking of Democratic targets in the 2016 U.S. election — cyberattacks underpinning the indictment of 12 Russian military intelligence officers.

Trump’s first response to special counsel Robert Mueller’s initial charges against Russian government officials for interfering in American politics came in tweets the president posted while at his golf resort in Scotland, two days before a high-stakes summit in Finland with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

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“The stories you heard about the 12 Russians yesterday took place during the Obama Administration, not the Trump Administration,” Trump tweeted. “Why didn’t they do something about it, especially when it was reported that President Obama was informed by the FBI in September, before the Election?

The indictment announced Friday said the Russians hacked into Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and the Democratic Party and released tens of thousands of private communications as part of a broad conspiracy by the Kremlin to meddle in an American election that ended up putting Trump in the White House.

U.S. intelligence agencies have said Moscow was aiming to help the Trump campaign and harm Clinton’s bid.

Trump said this past week during his trip to Europe that he would “absolutely, firmly” raise the election-meddling issue with Putin at their meeting, though he added, “I don’t think you’ll have any ’Gee, I did it, I did it. You got me!’” Leading Democratic senators asked Trump in a letter Saturday to scrap the summit “if you are not prepared to make Russia’s attack on our election the top issue you will discuss.”