Obama official slams ‘hypocrisy’ from lawmakers on Russia response

A former senior Obama administration official on Friday slammed what he called “hypocrisy” coming from Capitol Hill regarding former President Obama’s response to Russian election meddling.

“Our critics are judging our actions in mid-2016 based on what we know by mid-2017. It’s an unfair standard,” Ned Price, a former spokesman for the National Security Council, told MSNBC’s Greta van Susteren.

“Knowing what we now know, we went on an aggressive push to make it clear both privately to the Russians that we knew what they were up to through multiple warnings, through multiple channels, over the course of many weeks, and to the American people,” he continued.

Price went on to slam congressional Republicans who have criticized the Obama administration’s response.

{mosads}

“No one should be surprised. The voices we’re hearing from the Hill now, that are saying we should have done more, we could have done more, many of those Republican voices on the Hill, within the House are now stalling a very strong Russia sanctions bill that sailed through the Senate 97-2. So it’s just chock-full of hypocrisy here,” Price said.

Price’s comments come as The Washington Post on Friday reported that the former administration was slow and cautious when it responded to Russian election interference.

President Trump weighed in on the issue on Thursday, asking in a tweet why the Obama administration did not take further action on Russian meddling, if it actually took place.

By the way, if Russia was working so hard on the 2016 Election, it all took place during the Obama Admin. Why didn’t they stop them?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2017

However, the past administration’s critics are not only Republicans, but include Democratic voices as well.

Speaking to The Hill, Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), who is a member of the House Intelligence Committee, described the penalties that the Obama administration imposed on Russia as “barely a slap on the wrist.”

“It was inadequate. I think they could have done a better job informing the American people of the extent of the attack,” said Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), who also sits on the House Intelligence Committee.