During an interview with NPR on Thursday, President Obama said that the U.S. will take appropriate action against Russia in connection with the hacking activity.
In an interview with NPR, President Obama said on Thursday that the U.S. will "take action" in response to the alleged intervention by Russia in the 2016 U.S. presidential election through hacking.
Obama told the media outlet, "I think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections that we need to take action. And we will — at a time and place of our own choosing. Some of it may be explicit and publicized. Some of it may not be."
He added, "Mr. Putin is well aware of my feelings about this, because I spoke to him directly about it."
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest also discussed the issue on Thursday. Without disclosing the specific options for retaliation, Earnest said, "there are a range of proportional responses." He also noted, "The United States retains significant, extensive cyber capabilities that exceed the capabilities that are wielded by any other country in the world."
Last week, the Washington Post had reported, "Intelligence agencies have identified individuals with connections to the Russian government who provided WikiLeaks with thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and others, including Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, according to U.S. officials. Those officials described the individuals as actors known to the intelligence community and part of a wider Russian operation to boost Trump and hurt Clinton’s chances."
Donald Trump, however, continues to dismiss the reports of Russia's involvement in the election. In a recent tweet, he said, "If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?"
