Trump accuses Obama of turning blind eye to hacking of Clinton campaign by Kremlin spies
Donald Trump blames Obama for failing to prevent Russian interference in the 2016 election after 12 Russian spies were indicted.
Donald Trump has blamed Barack Obama for failing to prevent Russian interference in the 2016 US election after 12 Russian spies were indicted for disrupting the campaign of Hillary Clinton.
Delivered just days before the US President’s meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, the 12 indictments established the first direct link between the Russian government and the hacking of Democrat emails.
“The goal of the conspirators was to have an impact on the election,” Deputy Attorney-General Rod Rosenstein said announcing the indictments at the weekend.
He said the 12 members of Russia’s military intelligence agency GRU “covertly monitored the computers, implanted hundreds of files containing malicious computer code and stole emails and other documents”.
The Trump administration distanced itself from the charges, saying the indictments showed no evidence of collusion between Russia and Trump associates.
Trump lawyer Rudolph Guliani tweeted on Saturday that the indictments “are good news for all Americans. The Russians are nailed. No Americans are involved”. He then called on special counsel Robert Mueller “to end this pursuit of the President and say President Trump is completely innocent”.
Mr Trump used the indictments to attack his predecessor, saying Mr Obama should have done something when he first heard about Russia’s involvement in September 2016.
“These Russian individuals did all their work during the Obama years,” he tweeted. “Why didn’t Obama do something about it? Because he thought Crooked Hillary Clinton would win, that’s why. Had nothing to do with the Trump Administration, but Fake News doesn’t want to report the truth, as usual!’
The 29-page-indictment described how the Russian hackers used fake personas called DC Leaks and Guccifer 2.0 to hack and obtain access to emails within the Democratic National Convention and to senior figures in the Clinton campaign. The Russian hackers gave the hacked emails to Wikileaks, which published almost 20,000 of them in July 2016.
The Russian Foreign Ministry dismissed the indictments as a political stunt based on false information. The ministry described the Mueller investigation as a “shameful comedy that is embarrassing the United States”.
Mr Rosenstein denied that the timing of the indictments was politically motivated.
“The timing … was a function of the collection of the facts, the evidence and the law, and a determination that it was sufficient to present the indictment at this time,” he said.
Mr Rosenstein said Mr Trump had been briefed on the indictments before his European visit.
“Free and fair elections are … contentious, and there will always be adversaries who work to exacerbate domestic differences and try to confuse, divide and conquer us,” Mr Rosenstein said.
Mr Trump has long been sceptical of the view of US intelligence agencies that Russia was behind the email hacks although more recently he has not openly denied it.
The evidence contained in the indictment led congressional leaders to demand Mr Trump either cancel today’s summit in Helsinki with Mr Putin or confront him vigorously about the issue.
“These revelations add to a body of evidence confirming an extensive plot by Vladimir Putin’s government to attack the 2016 election, sow chaos and dissension among the American electorate, and undermine faith in our democracy,” Republican senator John McCain said.
“If President Trump is not prepared to hold Putin accountable, the summit in Helsinki should not move forward”.
Democrat Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said the President should cancel the meeting, saying it would be an insult to American democracy if Mr Trump was seen to be “gladhanding with Vladimir Putin”.
Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia.
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