Conservative writer Bill Kristol expressed hope Saturday that President-elect Donald Trump's comments on Vladimir Putin will push Democrats to become as critical of the Russian leader as Republicans have been during the Obama administration.
Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, posted his thought on Twitter:
Kristol's post came amid reports that the CIA concluded that Moscow meddled in the 2016 election to sway the outcome toward President-elect Donald Trump and that Russia also hacked into the Republican National Committee's computers but withheld the data it seized.
The Trump campaign slammed the dispatches on Saturday — and the president-elect has dismissed concerns about Russian hacking.
Republicans have stepped up their attacks on Moscow since Trump's election, citing his desire to draw the country closer to the United States and his playing down fears relating to Russia's role in the election.
Arizona Sen. John McCain, the 2008 presidential candidate, remains one of Putin's fiercest critics, and Mitt Romney called Russia the nation's "number one geopolitical foe" in a debate during the 2012 campaign with President Barack Obama.
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