Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:40 pm
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest bluntly told the world that the president-elect is making excuses for Russia because Trump directly benefited from Putin’s interference in the US presidential election.
Video of White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest:
.@PressSec: You don't "need a security clearance to figure out who benefited from malicious Russian cyber activity." https://t.co/6oVIntSOrR pic.twitter.com/t95bwXccCH
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— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) December 12, 2016
Earnest said, “You didn’t need a security clearance to figure out who benefitted from malicious Russian cyber activity. The president-elect didn’t call it into question. He called on Russia to hack his opponents. He called on Russia to hack Hillary Clinton, so he certainly had a pretty good sense of which side this activity was coming down on. The last several weeks of the election were focused on a discussion of emails that had been hacked and leaked by the Russians. These were emails from the DNC and John Podesta, not from the RNC and Steve Bannon.”
President Obama and his White House aren’t going to let the Russian interference in the presidential election slide. Earnest’s remarks to the press were the strongest words yet from the White House. While they didn’t point the finger directly at Trump, the fact that the White House is willing to publicly suggest that the president-elect condoned meddling by a foreign power in a US presidential election is a powerful statement on where the scandal stands.
Republicans are joining with Democrats in calling for a full Congressional investigation, and now the White House is pointing out that the president-elect is dismissing Russian election interference because he benefited from Russia’s behavior.
Donald Trump’s potential presidency is not only tainted. It is in danger of not happening.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
