President Trump again asked why the Department of Justice is not investigating the Obama administration for not doing “something” about Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
“Question: If all of the Russian meddling took place during the Obama Administration, right up to January 20th, why aren’t they the subject of the investigation? Why didn’t Obama do something about the meddling? Why aren’t Dem crimes under investigation? Ask Jeff Sessions!” the president tweeted early Monday, referring to his Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Question: If all of the Russian meddling took place during the Obama Administration, right up to January 20th, why aren’t they the subject of the investigation? Why didn’t Obama do something about the meddling? Why aren’t Dem crimes under investigation? Ask Jeff Sessions!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 21, 2018
Sessions, however, recused himself early last year from all election-related matters as attorney general.
The tweet comes less than a day after Trump went after former President Barack Obama for not taking action against Russia.
Trump tweeted that Obama did not act on Russian interference because he thought Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton would win, and that “when I easily won the Electoral College, the whole game changed and the Russian excuse became the narrative of the Dems.”
….The President Obama quote just before election. That’s because he thought Crooked Hillary was going to win and he didn’t want to “rock the boat.” When I easily won the Electoral College, the whole game changed and the Russian excuse became the narrative of the Dems.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2018
The two tweets come less than a week after special counsel Robert Mueller unveiled indictments against 13 Russian individuals and three Russian businesses for meddling in the election, often by using fake personas and news stories on social media.
In December 2016, then-President Obama expelled 35 suspected Russian intelligence operatives for retaliation for election meddling. He also imposed sanctions on four Russian individuals and five Russian entities, and ordered tow Russian compounds to be closed.
“Russia’s cyberactivities were intended to influence the election, erode faith in US democratic institutions, sow doubt about the integrity of our electoral process, and undermine confidence in the institutions of the US government,” a White House statement said at the time. “These actions are unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”
Sessions announced Tuesday the creation of a new Department of Justice cyber task force to study election interference efforts.
