Cruz: Obama ‘rolled over’ on hacking

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) says he hopes the incoming Trump administration is tougher on dealing with cyberattacks than the “weakness” he saw from President Obama on hacking by Russia and other foreign adversaries.

“One of the reasons these cyberattacks are so prevalent is that Barack Obama and his administration have rolled over for eight years,” Cruz said Thursday on “The Mike Gallagher Show.”

“They have shown nothing but weakness and appeasement in the face of those attacks. This is something I hope and believe will change with the new administration,” he said.

{mosads}

Cruz insisted neither Russian hacking nor WikiLeaks revelations last year about the Democratic Party significantly influenced Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election.

“I think that there’s no evidence whatsoever that Russia’s efforts against us, which have been longstanding, did anything to affect the campaign,” said Cruz, who competed against Trump in last year’s GOP primaries.

“It’s, frankly, patently absurd,” Cruz added of claims Russia or WikiLeaks helped Trump win. “You can’t credibly argue that [WikiLeaks’] disclosures impacted the election because most voters never heard it.”

Cruz additionally argued that the media didn’t widely report on WikiLeaks’ dumps of stolen Democratic emails before Election Day.

“How many times did ABC News, NBC, CBS actually report on what WikiLeaks was about?” he asked. “They didn’t cover it, they ignored it.”

“The reason they’re now going on and on about Russia is simple: The media wanted to do what they can to try to delegitimize the election result,” he said. “They don’t like the election result. They’re partisan Democrats.”

A CIA assessment has concluded Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential campaign with the goal of helping Trump win.

Trump has vehemently denied that conclusion, arguing it discredits his victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The Obama administration, meanwhile, last week announced retaliatory sanctions against Russia over the hacking of Democratic organizations. The White House also expelled 35 Russian officials and shuttered two compounds believed to be used for Russian intelligence purposes.