President Donald Trump is trying to change the focus of the allegations against him for not doing anything despite evidence that Russia meddled in the 2016 election and asked Monday why former President Barack Obama didn’t take action against Russia, although he implemented several sanctions against the country over its meddling.
Special counsel Robert Mueller last week indicted more than a dozen Russians and three Russian groups for election interference, which has sparked the harsh criticism against Trump.
During the Presidents Day weekend that he spent at his Mar-a-Lago resort in South Florida, Trump tweeted multiple times about Moscow’s hacking and the U.S. investigations into it.
“Obama was President up to, and beyond, the 2016 Election. So why didn’t he do something about Russian meddling?” Trump tweeted.
Previously, former President Obama issued sanctions against Russia for the meddling after U.S. intelligence officials said they had found evidence that the country had hacked U.S. groups and leaked emails in an effort to influence the 2016 vote. In addition to the economic sanctions, Obama also expelled 35 Russian diplomats from U.S. soil as well as ordered that two Russian compounds be closed.
Meanwhile, former Vice President Joe Biden stated earlier this year that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rejected to support a bipartisan statement that will serve as a warning to Russia for the interference during the election.
However, some Democrats, including California Representative Adam Schiff, have acknowledged that the Obama administration could have done more to prevent the election meddling.
The Hill reports that Democrats are still criticizing Trump for declining to implement new sanctions against Russia that passed Congress last year by overwhelming, bipartisan margins.
A spokesperson for the State Department explained that the legislation allowing for the sanctions was already “serving as a deterrent” and there was no need to penalize Russia further at this time.
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