A leading House Republican charges that President Obama is implementing a “scorched earth” exit strategy aimed at undermining President-elect Trump first months while cementing his own legacy through a frenzy of midnight regulations.
California Rep. Darrell Issa also hit Obama’s post-campaign effort to blame Russia for the outcome of the election, which has sparked some Democrats to suggest that the results are illegitimate.
“President Obama is not going softly into the night. He very clearly wants to leave what some call scorched earth, or at least troubled waters,” said Issa on this weekend’s Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.
The show, titled “Exit Strategy,” focuses on Obama’s last minute moves, including the wave of regulations being flushed through the a government.
Issa also focused on Obama’s retaliation against Russia for hacking the Democratic National Committee and even his opening of gates of the terrorist prison camp at Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay base.
“I do believe that the retaliation if you will with Russia was appropriate for conduct, but it was appropriate for conduct going back weeks, months, or even years. And that’s one of the challenges is, the Russians see this as the desperate act of a dying administration, not as a measured response to their misconduct,” he said on the show broadcast Sunday at 9:30 a.m. on Sinclair stations and livestreamed online.
Issa concluded that Obama’s transition period moves will soil his legacy.
“That’s where President Obama is going to come up with shortages in his legacy because there’s going to be an asterisk saying, basically President Obama had questionable actions during the transition,” said Issa.
Attkisson’s show, meanwhile, has taken off and in the last year saw viewership jump 76 percent, overtaking many cable TV markets on Sunday mornings. In the key 25-54 demographic, viewership jumped by 116 percent in the same period. It is on in 81 markets.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
