EXCLUSIVE: @DenisMcDonough says Mitch McConnell “watered down” the White House’s statement on Russian interference in the election. #MTP pic.twitter.com/VLeAWmZXBt
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) March 4, 2018
A former White House chief of staff to former President Obama on Sunday said that the Obama administration’s response to Russian interference in the 2016 elections was “watered down.”
Denis McDonough told “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd that a few months before the 2016 election, the president asked the four party leaders to join the White House in drafting a statement to respond to Russia.
It was “dramatically watered down” on the insistence of now-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), McDonough said.
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Former Vice President Joe Biden has in the past also blamed McConnell for weakening the bipartisan response Obama sought.
“So we went up and Mitch McConnell, who I get on with well and is a smart guy, Mitch McConnell wanted no part of having a bipartisan commitment that we would say, essentially, Russia is doing this — stop,” Biden said in January, CBS reported.
McConnell’s lack of cooperation, Biden said, kept him and Obama from speaking out publicly about Russian meddling in the 2016 elections.
President Trump has criticized the Obama administration for not doing enough to stop Russian interference in the 2016 election.
“Obama was President up to, and beyond, the 2016 Election. So why didn’t he do something about Russian meddling?” he tweeted last month.