Key Democrat Agrees With Trump: Obama Should Have Acted On Hacks

Rep. Adam Schiff and President Donald Trump don’t agree on much about Russia’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections, but they agree on this: former president Barack Obama should have done more to stop Moscow from intervening. Obama made a “very serious mistake” in not doing more about Russia’s intervention in the presidential election campaign, Schiff of California, the top ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on Sunday. “The administration needed to call out Russia earlier, and needed to act to deter and punish Russia earlier,” Schiff said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I think the Obama administration should have done more when it became clear that not only was Russia intervening, but it was being directed at the highest levels of the Kremlin.” Obama did announce in December a series of sanctions against Russia for its attempts to influence the November election, including expelling 35 suspected intelligence operatives from the U.S. Schiff said the sanctions should have come sooner and been stronger.