Just to prove he did not collude with Russia, President Donald trump tweeted on Monday it was his predecessor who colluded with Moscow by doing nothing. In pointing the finger at former President Barack Obama, the billionaire just confirmed Russia helped him win the election, the Washington Post noted in an opinion piece.
As early as August, intelligence reports that reached the White House confirmed there was an extensive cyber campaign to disrupt the presidential election. Besides undermining American faith in democracy, the aim of the Russian campaign was to help Trump win.
Punitive action came after the election
The Obama administration discussed various responses to the intelligence report. The Democratic Party, however, initiated punitive action only after Trump unexpectedly won the election. In his Tweet, Trump argued because of Obama's inaction out of the belief Hillary Clinton would win, it was a collusion on the part of the former president.
The reason that President Obama did NOTHING about Russia after being notified by the CIA of meddling is that he expected Clinton would win..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2017
The Washington Post op-ed, however, pointed out Trump, because of his dishonesty or megalomania, twisted two questions. One is the things Russia did to undermine the election, and the second is his campaign colluded with the Russian effort.
While until last week, Trump claimed Russian meddling is only a Democratic hoax, with his latest tweet he just acknowledged there was interference which favored his poll victory.
Raises meddling issue with Putin
Reuters, however, cited an official during the Obama administration who belied Trump’s tweet. The official said Obama brought up the election interference issue directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The official explained the interest of the previous administration in ensuring the response was bipartisan was not for the sake of being bipartisan. “It was necessary because we needed the buy-in from state and local election administrators – many of whom were Republican partisans and/or skeptical of federal government,” the official said.
Fox hosts are now insisting colluding with a foreign government to influence an election is not a crime. Brit Hume said on “Fox News Sunday” a foreign government influencing an election is obviously alarming and highly inappropriate, but not a crime. Sean Hannity also made the same argument. USA Today cited another statement from Fox News host Greg Jarrett that collusion is not a crime, but USA Today pointed out colluding with Russians breaches at least four laws, including the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.
