Trump aide Sean Spicer questions U.S. response to Russian hacking
Incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Sunday questioned the validity of President Obama’s latest actions to retaliate against Russia for its election-related cyberattacks.
“I think one of the questions that we have is, ‘Why the magnitude of this?’ I mean you look at 35 people being expelled, two sites being closed down, the question is, is that response in proportion to the actions taken? Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t,” he said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week.”
Spicer was asked if Mr. Trump agrees with Mr. Obama’s actions or whether he plans to reverse them. In response, Spicer said that the president-elect plans to sit down with the leaders of the Intelligence Committees on Capitol Hill to receive a full briefing next week.
During the interview, Spicer also questioned why Mr. Obama acted now. Spicer said the administration didn’t appear to respond, at least publicly, to the 2015 hack by Chinese hackers into records held by the Office of Personnel Management.
“China took over a million records, sensitive data of people like me who had worked in the government at any time,” Spicer said. “Not one thing happened.”
Spicer was asked whether Mr. Trump can accept the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia was behind the cyberattacks during the U.S. election, and he deflected and refused to give an answer.
Last Thursday, the Obama administration announced a new series of sanctions against Russian intelligence agents and entities that the U.S. says were responsible for hacks into the Democratic National Committee and other servers. Part of the move also called for the expulsion of 35 Russian operatives from the U.S.
A number of top Republicans in Congress, including Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Senate Majority Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, applauded the president’s actions.
Mr. Trump, on the other hand, said it was time to “move on.” Over the weekend, he continued to express doubt about the assessment that Russia interfered with the election and claimed that he has insider information no one in the public knows.
