Obama vows action against Russia over election hacks

[maximuswarrior]

Mr Obama meeting Mr Putin at the UN in New York in 2015

US President Barack Obama has vowed to take action against Russia for its alleged interference in the US presidential election campaign.

"We need to take action and we will," he told US radio station NPR.

Russia stands accused by the US of hacking the emails of the Democratic Party and a key Hillary Clinton aide, which the Kremlin strongly denies.

Republican president-elect Donald Trump has also dismissed the claim as "ridiculous" and politically motivated.

The intelligence agencies say they have overwhelming evidence that Russian hackers linked to the Kremlin were behind the hacks.

And on Thursday, a White House spokesman said President Vladimir Putin was involved in the cyber-attacks.

Hours later, Mr Obama said: "I think there's no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact on the integrity of our elections, that we need to take action and we will, at a time and a place of our own choosing.

"Some of it may be explicit and publicised. Some of it may not be.

"Mr Putin is well aware of my feelings about this, because I spoke to him directly about it."

John Podesta, who led the Clinton campaign, was hacked and his emails posted on Wikileaks

It is not clear what action the US intends to take, with Mr Obama leaving office on 20 January.

The disclosure of emails was embarrassing to the Democratic Party at a crucial point in the election campaign.

• Hacking: Truth or treason?
• How would a thawing US-Russia relationship work?

The CIA has concluded that Russia's motivation was to sway the election in favour of Mr Trump, but no evidence has been made public.

• More than 19,000 internal Democratic National Committee emails, published by WikiLeaks on 22 July, appeared to show party officials tried to thwart the campaign of Mrs Clinton's rival, Bernie Sanders. The row prompted the resignation of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the party's chair, shortly before the Democratic National Convention
• WikiLeaks published swathes of emails in October and November from the account of Mrs Clinton's campaign boss, John Podesta
• Among the most damaging revelations were suggestions that donors to the Clinton Foundation gained special access to former President Bill Clinton, and that Mrs Clinton had maintained a closer relationship with Wall Street bankers that she admitted on the campaign trail
• The emails also revealed squabbling within the Democratic Party, with Mr Podesta complaining about Mrs Clinton's "terrible instincts"

Mr Trump has accused the Democrats of fabricating Russian involvement to hide their embarrassment at the election defeat.

He has also long expressed admiration for Mr Putin, and his pick for secretary of state - oil tycoon Rex Tillerson, who has worked closely with the Russian leader - has raised concerns.

Mr Trump tweeted on Thursday: "If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?"

However, the Obama administration in October directly accused Russia of hacking US political sites and email accounts with the aim of interfering with the upcoming election.

The president-elect has been assembling his new administration and on Thursday he said he would pick lawyer David Friedman to be his ambassador to Israel.

A headache for Trump - Anthony Zurcher, BBC News, Washington

Democrats have struggled to grasp why Hillary Clinton lost. Could it be the spread of "fake news"? A poor Democratic ground game in Midwestern states? FBI Director James Comey's last-minute letter to Congress about new Clinton emails?

Anything but acknowledge that Donald Trump turned out to be the more effective candidate with a more appealing message (at least in the states that mattered).

Russian government hackers are the latest culprit - or scapegoat, depending on one's perspective. They're a tempting target, however, given the latest accounts of intrigue from intelligence community sources. A wily Vladimir Putin overseeing damaging leaks makes for a deliciously villainous plot.

Of course those campaign emails, while certainly an annoyance to Democrats, likely weren't enough to tilt the election. But that doesn't mean these revelations won't be a headache for a president-elect who bristles when challenged.

Now he's feuding with his own intelligence services and lashing out on Twitter, virtually guaranteeing more leaks. A congressional investigation seems likely. There's even talk of a Russian sanctions bill ending up on President Trump's desk.

Mrs Clinton's loss still stings, but for forlorn Democrats seeing Mr Trump squirm would be a salve for open wounds.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38337109

 

[maximuswarrior]

CIA's accusations against Russia being rejected by its own president. This is how much credibility CIA has got for its own president. How unprecedented is that for a refreshing change?

My prediction is that Trump is also going to remove all sanctions against Russia. The Obama stooges are in for some tough time. Sore losers.

 

[ptldM3]

The Democrats are still pissed that their corruption, media collusion and perversions was undercovered. This is a great distraction from the content of the emails. The entire campaign democrats focused on the sources of the leaks instead of the content, which is what really matters.

 

[maximuswarrior]

Paranoia. Even the White House accusing their president-elect.

 

[FlyCheatter]

 

[TruthSeeker]

Obama's "retaliation" threat is a joke. Russian media is not going to go crazy over any US orchestrated Wiki-leaked e-mails from Russian politician accounts. The only reason the Wiki-leaks had any affect is because (1) the e-mails were true, not fakes, and, (2) US media loved, loved, loved the inside gossip. Russian politics are not vulnerable to such foolishness. The only effective retaliation I can imagine would be if the USA could cause to be published accurate, totally believable details about the foreign bank account holdings of Russian officials, such as Putin himself. I doubt that the CIA or the NSA has the ability to deliver on any such a counter punch.

 

[faithfulguy]

Obama's "retaliation" threat is a joke. Russian media is not going to go crazy over any US orchestrated Wiki-leaked e-mails from Russian politician accounts. The only reason the Wiki-leaks had any affect is because (1) the e-mails were true, not fakes, and, (2) US media loved, loved, loved the inside gossip. Russian politics are not vulnerable to such foolishness. The only effective retaliation I can imagine would be if the USA could cause to be published accurate, totally believable details about the foreign bank account holdings of Russian officials, such as Putin himself. I doubt that the CIA or the NSA has the ability to deliver on any such a counter punch.

If J Edgar Hoover is running things, that would be possible.

 

[ultron]

Obama has never been able to hack Putin's emails and he never will. Putin does not use an unsecured gmail account.