Outgoing President Barack Obama has made good on his promise to retaliate against the Russian President Vladimir Putin for allegedly interfering in th
Outgoing President Barack Obama has made good on his promise to retaliate against the Russian President Vladimir Putin for allegedly interfering in the U.S. presidential elections. Obama, blames Russia for hacking computers at the Democratic National Committee and leaking Hillary Clinton Foundation emails to WikiLeaks. According to NY Times, the Obama Administration shut down two recreational facilities in Maryland and New York and booted 35 Russian agents out of the country.
The two Russian properties housed Russian Intelligence agencies while the ejected Intelligence operatives includes four top intelligence officers of the military intelligence unit who Obama believes ordered the hack attacks on the Democratic National Convention and other political organizations. Taken together, the actions amount to the strongest American response ever taken to a state-sponsored cyber-attack aimed at the United States.
However, President-elect Donald Trump, has refused to accept U.S. spy agencies’ determination that Russia hacked to try to help his campaign, arguing Democrats are merely trying to DE-legitimize his election. The Republican said it was time the country moved on to bigger and better things but pledged to meet with intelligence officials. He will now have to decide whether to lift the sanctions on the Russian intelligence agencies when he takes office next month, with Republicans in Congress among those calling for a public investigation into Russia’s actions. Should Mr. Trump do so, it would require him to effectively reject the findings of his intelligence agencies.
President Obama, in a statement, put in a subtle dig at Mr. Trump’s unwillingness to talk about Russia’s role. “All Americans should be alarmed by Russia’s actions,” he said. “I acted after repeated private and public warnings that we have issued to the Russian government and the moves were a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm U.S. interests in violation of established international norms of behavior.”
