American voters should have faith that U.S. intelligence agencies have correctly identified Russia as the source of the leaked documents that embarrassed Hillary Clinton’s campaign, according to President Obama, who suggested that doubt about that finding demonstrated how partisanship blinds some conservatives to the threat posed by Russia.
“What I worry about more than anything is the degree to which, because of the fierceness of the partisan battle, you start to see certain folks in the Republican party and Republican voters suddenly finding a government and individuals who stand contrary to everything we stand for as being okay because that’s how much we dislike Democrats,” Obama said Friday.
Those comments flowed out of an explanation of why he has declined to declassify evidence linking Russia to the cyberattacks carried out against the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta, a senior official on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Obama said he didn’t want to reveal intelligence capabilities to the Russians, and emphasized that the entire U.S. intelligence community — as well as the congressional Republicans and Democrats who have received classified briefings on the subject — agree that Russia is to blame.
“This is one of those situations where, unless the American people genuinely think that the professionals in the CIA, the FBI, our entire intelligence infrastructure — many of whom by the way served in previous administrations and are Republicans — are less trustworthy than the Russians, then people should pay attention to what our intelligence agencies say,” he said.
Obama also noted survey results suggesting Republicans have warmed to Putin; 32 percent of conservatives have a somewhat or very favorable view of the Russian president, according to a recent Economist/YouGov poll. “Ronald Reagan would roll over in his grave,” he said.
Putin and Russian foreign policy has been politically-charged in recent months, as the Obama administration accused Putin of carrying out hacks that resulted in embarrassing leaks for the Democratic party.
President-elect Trump disputed Russia’s involvement in the hacks throughout the presidential election. When the CIA told Congress that Russia carried out the cyberattacks and leaks in order to benefit Trump’s campaign, the president-elect cast doubt on their credibility. “These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction,” his transition team said in a statement.
Obama warned Americans to “think about what’s happening tot our political culture,” as it represents one of the few vulnerable targets available to Russia.
“The Russians can’t change us or significantly weaken us,” he said. “They are a smaller country; they are a weaker country; their economy doesn’t produce anything that anybody wants to buy, except oil and gas and arms; they don’t innovate. But they can impact us if we lose track of who we are. They can impact us if we abandon our values.”
“Mr. Putin can weaken us, just like he’s trying to weaken Europe, if we start buying into notions that it’s okay to intimidate the press, or lock up dissidents, or discriminate against people because of their faith or what they look like,” he said.
