Obama: ‘Possible’ Russia interfering in US election

President Obama on Tuesday raised the possibility that Russians hacked the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in order to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. 

“Anything’s possible,” Obama said in an interview with NBC News. 

{mosads}Obama said Russian President Vladimir Putin might prefer Republican nominee Donald Trump over his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, because the business magnate has “repeatedly expressed admiration” for the Russian leader in the past. 

“I am basing this on what Mr. Trump himself has said,” the president said. “And I think that — Trump’s gotten pretty favorable coverage — back in Russia.” 

The president’s comments add considerable heft to mounting evidence that Russian hackers were behind the DNC hack.

Obama said that the FBI is still investigating the origin of the hack, but he acknowledged that “experts have attributed this to the Russians.”

“What we do know is is that the Russians hack our systems. Not just government systems, but private systems. But — you know, what the motives were in terms of the leaks, all that — I can’t say directly.”

The hack exposed reams of emails sent by party staffers, some of which showed them apparently seeking to undermine the campaign of Clinton’s primary opponent, Bernie Sanders. 

Several top Democrats have suggested that Russia hacked the Democrats in an effort to sow discord in their ranks and thereby boost Trump’s campaign.