Donna Brazile, interim chairperson of the Democratic National Committee, said that the Obama administration’s retaliatory measures against Russia for hacking Democratic groups are “insufficient,” according to The Hill.
Brazile and the DNC definitely have skin in this game, since it was DNC emails that were hacked and released, forcing DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz to resign, as well as doing significant damage to the party's candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who lost the election to Republican Donald Trump.
In fact, U.S. intelligence reports have concluded that Russia helped Trump win the U.S. election.
On Thursday, Brazile said that although she approves of the president’s response to the Russians, she feels that the aggressions should be treated as “attacks on the United States by a foreign power.”
“We applaud President Obama for taking these actions in response to the Russian government-sponsored cyberattacks on the DNC, the Clinton campaign, and our free and fair elections. However, more must be done,” Brazile said in a statement.
“[T]oday’s action alone by the White House is insufficient. Now it's time for President-elect Trump and the Republican leadership in Congress to put our national security before politics and show the American people that they are serious about protecting our democracy,” she added.
Just this week, the Obama administration clapped back against the Russians by issuing sanctions and putting 35 Russian spies out of the U.S., in addition to shutting down two Russian compounds in Maryland and New York.
Brazile also had some words for the incoming president, who has tried to brush off the hacks as mere hearsay (though the CIA, FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have given credence to the hacks) or something we should “move on” from, though he said this week that he would finally meet for more in-depth intelligence briefings.
“Unfortunately, President-elect Donald Trump has denied the facts and demonstrated a disdain for the Intelligence community, skipping intelligence briefings and dismissing evidence of Russian influence,” Brazile said.
“He must take the threat of foreign meddling in our elections seriously and Congress has a duty to give the American people a full account of Russia's assault on our democracy,” Brazile said in her statement. “That’s why I have called on Congress to launch a thorough, independent, and bipartisan investigation on the Russian government’s unprecedented interference in the 2016 election.”
Read more at The Hill.