An aide to former President Barack Obama laid into lawmakers who decried the response of the previous administration following recent revelations the White House knew in 2016 about Russia's attempts to meddle in last year's presidential election, The Hill reported Friday.
"Our critics are judging our actions in mid-2016 based on what we know by mid-2017," Ned Price, a former spokesman for the National Security Council, told MSNBC on Friday. "It's an unfair standard
"Knowing what we now know, we went on an aggressive push to make it clear both privately to the Russians that we knew what they were up to through multiple warnings, through multiple channels, over the course of many weeks, and to the American people," he added.
The Washington Post reported Friday that Obama was cautious in responding to intelligence reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a "cyber campaign to disrupt and discredit the U.S. presidential race."
The article explained, after much debate, Obama decided to launch modest sanctions against Russia and expelled 35 diplomats and closed two Russian compounds.
Price called it "hypocrisy" for Republican lawmakers to discredit Obama's response to the issue.
"No one should be surprised," Price said. "The voices we're hearing from the Hill now, that are saying we should have done more, we could have done more, many of those Republican voices on the Hill, within the House are now stalling a very strong Russia sanctions bill that sailed through the Senate 97-2. So, it's just chock-full of hypocrisy here."
President Donald Trump was among the critics, tweeting Thursday, "By the way, if Russia was working so hard on the 2016 Election, it all took place during the Obama Admin. Why didn't they stop them?"
And, adding Friday night:
Democrats have also slammed Obama over his response, with Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., telling The Hill the sanctions against Russia were "barely a slap on the wrist."
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., called Obama's response "inadequate," adding he thought the White House "could have done a better job informing the American people of the extent of the attack."
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