Obama tells Republicans: ‘Putin is not on our team’

by Jordan Fabian - 01/06/17 7:52 PM ET

President Obama says he’s “concerned” that some Republicans appear to be siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid a fierce debate over allegations of Moscow’s interference in the U.S. presidential election.

“I think that what is true is that the Russians intended to meddle and they meddled,” Obama told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in an interview that aired Friday.

Obama voiced worry about “Republicans or pundits or cable commentators who seem to have more confidence in Vladimir Putin than fellow Americans because those fellow Americans are Democrats.”

{mosads}”That cannot be,” he said.

But the president dodged when asked whether he was referring to President-elect Donald Trump.

“I said that after the election — we have to remind ourselves that we’re on the same team,” Obama said. “Vladimir Putin is not on our team.”

Obama’s comments came after the Intelligence Community published a declassified report blaming Putin for orchestrating hacks on Democratic groups and an online influence campaign in an attempt to boost Trump’s White House chances.

Both the president and president-elect were presented with a classified version of the report this week.

Trump has repeatedly voiced skepticism toward the notion the Russians attempted to aid his candidacy, and on Friday, he did not say whether he accepted the intelligence agencies’ conclusions.

He would only say that “Russia, China, other countries, outside groups and people are consistently trying to break through the cyber infrastructure of our governmental institutions, businesses and organizations including the Democrat National Committee.”

Trump also stressed that “there was absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election.”

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