Josh Earnest made comments regarding Russia's alleged intervention in the 2016 presidential election during a press conference on Wednesday.
During a press conference on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest commented on the alleged Russian intervention in the 2016 presidential election and suggested it was clear that the Trump campaign benefited from it.
Earnest said, "There was ample evidence that was known long before the election, and in most cases long before October, about the Trump campaign and Russia, everything from the Republican nominee himself calling on Russia to hack his opponent...It might be an indication that he was obviously aware and concluded, based on whatever facts or sources he had available to him, that Russia was involved and their involvement was having a negative impact on his opponent's campaign."
He added, "It was obvious to those who were covering the race that the hack-and-leak strategy that had been operationalized was not being equally applied to the two parties and to the two campaigns...There’s one side that was bearing the brunt of that strategy and another side that was clearly benefiting from it."
Earnest made similar comments on Monday. He said when news of the hacks emerged ahead of the election, "The president-elect didn’t call it into question. He called on Russia to hack his opponent...He certainly had a pretty good sense of whose side this activity was coming down on.”
He continued, “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.”
Earnest also urged Congress to move forward with an investigation into Russia’s involvement in the U.S. election.
