There has been a significant debate in the past week on whether the Russians simply hacked the DNC, or if they actually interfered with the voting process. Now, President Obama has just come out and threatened Russia, attacking them for interfering with our election to help boost Donald Trump to the White House.
The Russians did not take the accusations silently. According to reports from Western Journalism, Russian officials demanded President Barack Obama either “stop talking” or “produce some proof” of the alleged hack.
On Thursday, Obama said the United States will retaliate against Russia for their interference by hacking political organizations.
“I think there’s no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections, that we need to take action and we will, at a time and a place of our own choosing,” Obama said. “Some of it may be explicit and publicized. Some of it may not be. Mr. Putin is well aware of my feelings about this because I spoke to him directly about it.”
Earlier last week, the CIA dropped a bombshell with claims that the Russian government hackers attacked the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign chair John Podesta. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who published leaked documents for both of those attacks, denied Russia had a role in obtaining the documents.
Trump has responded to these claims with justifiable doubt.
“I think it’s ridiculous,” he told Chris Wallace. “I think it’s just another excuse.”
Dmitri Peskov, a spokesman for Putin, said the Obama administration has not yet backed up its accusations with evidence.
“They should either stop talking about that or produce some proof at last. Otherwise, it all begins to look unseemly,” Peskov commented.
What do you think of Obama’s response?
