The biggest political story over the last six months has been over what role Russia played in the 2016 presidential election in regards to helping Donald Trump get elected. Despite the evidence against him, Trump continues to deny any wrongdoing and is now putting the blame on former President Barack Obama.
Trump on Obama
For the year and a half that he ran for president, Donald Trump was forced to dodge allegations that he was in cahoots with Russia. The former host of "The Apprentice" didn't help his own cause when he refused to release his tax returns, while often praising Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In the months that followed, past and present advisers and associates of the president were found, in one way or another, to have their own link back to Kremlin, causing further speculation from his critics and the mainstream media. Since Trump's inauguration, several well-respected news outlets, as well as multiple government agencies, have released information linking those close to Trump back to Russia. Regardless of what information has been made public, the billionaire real estate mogul has denied that he is in the wrong, and is now turning the attention back on his predecessor. During an interview with Fox News on June 23, Trump put the blame of Russian election interference on Barack Obama.
Joining Fox News host Pete Hegseth on Friday for a taped interview which is schedule to be shown over the weekend, Donald Trump elaborated further on blaming Obama for the Russian scandal. "I just heard today for the very first time that Obama knew about Russia a long time before the election, but no one wants to talk about that," Trump said.
Just out: The Obama Administration knew far in advance of November 8th about election meddling by Russia. Did nothing about it. WHY?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 24, 2017
"The CIA gave him information gave him information on Russia before the election, and I hardly see it," Donald Trump said, before adding, "it's an amazing thing." "If he had the information, why didn't he do something about it?" Trump wondered.
Following the release of the Fox News video clip, Trump returned to Twitter to double down on his allegations. "Just out: The Obama Administration knew far in advance of November 8th about election meddling by Russia. Did nothing about it. WHY?" Trump tweeted.
Moving forward
While Donald Trump is now attempting to blame Barack Obama for the scandal involving Russia, he's not going to be able to use that excuse during the current investigation. With the pressure mounting, the president and his White House have taken part in a daily sparing match with the press on how to control the narrative when dealing with the Russian scandal, and only time will tell how it all plays out.