Trump: Obama blew off Russia threat because ‘Hillary was going to win’

Published July 16, 2018 10:34am ET



President Trump said early Monday that former President Barack Obama ignored the threat Russia posed to the U.S. election because he thought Hillary Clinton would win, and that Democrats only started caring about Russia after Trump won.

“President Obama thought that Crooked Hillary was going to win the election, so when he was informed by the FBI about Russian Meddling, he said it couldn’t happen, was no big deal, & did NOTHING about it,” Trump tweeted Monday from Finland, just before he was set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “When I won it became a big deal and the Rigged Witch Hunt headed by Strzok!”


Trump is under pressure from many Democrats and Republicans to pressure Putin on a new finding that a dozen Russian intelligence officials hacked into Democratic emails during the 2016 election. Some said Trump should cancel the meeting.

Trump has said he would raise the election hacking issue, while others have suggested he would also push Russia on its role in the conflict in Syria. But Trump also signaled Monday morning he would be looking to repair the U.S.-Russia relationship.


When asked in Finland what he would say to Putin, Trump said, “We’ll do just fine.”