Former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer on Saturday demanded that President Donald Trump "confront" Russian President Vladimir Putin on election interference in Monday's summit, but noted that Moscow "pounced" on the U.S. in 2014 after then-President Barack Obama showed "weakness" on various global issues.
"Russia interfered in our election," Fleischer, who served former President George W. Bush, said in a Twitter feed. "They stole from us.
"An attack on one political party should be treated as an attack on all parties."
Trump and Putin will meet in Helsinki, Finland.
However, Fleischer noted that Obama empowered Putin to attack the Democrats in 2014 because the president "was so weak."
But he also slammed Trump for his "Russia, if you're listening" comment in a July 27, 2016, campaign speech — calling it "one of the most foolish and misguided things for a POTUS candidate to ever say."
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced Friday that 12 Russian intelligence officers were charged with hacking into the accounts of the Democratic National Committee, Hillary Clinton's campaign and other party operatives during the 2016 presidential election.
They then released the stolen information through fake accounts — DC Leaks, Guccifer 2.0, among them — in the weeks before voters went to the polls that November.
The charges did not allege that Trump campaign associates were involved or that any Americans were knowingly in contact with Russian intelligence officers.
However, the indictment disclosed that the Russians — through the Internet Research Agency — began their efforts to interfere with the U.S. political system as early as 2014.
They allegedly posed as Americans, created false U.S. personas and operated social media pages and groups designed to reach American audiences, according to the 29-page indictment.
Two of the indicted Russians were accused of traveling to the United States in 2014 to gather intelligence for their operations, according to the document.
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