President Barack Obama has ordered a full review of Russia’s involvement in the presidential election, a top adviser told reporters Friday.
“The President has directed the Intelligence Community to conduct a full review of what happened during the 2016 election process. It is to capture lessons learned from that and to report to a range of stakeholders,” White House homeland security and counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco told reporters at the Christian Science Monitor breakfast, CNN reports
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She added that the review is supposed to be completed before Donald Trump’s inauguration. “He expects to get a report prior to him leaving office,” Monaco said.
Congressional Democrats have accused Russia of hacking the Democratic National Committee, John Podesta and spreading “fake news.” On Wednesday, Democratic California Rep. Eric Swalwell and Democratic Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings introduced a bill to establish a bipartisan committee to investigate foreign interference in the 2016 election.
In addition, seven Democratic congressmen sent a letter to President Obama asking him to brief members of Congress of the extent of Russia’s interference in the election. This has also not been a completely partisan issue. Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said Wednesday he wants to probe Russia’s alleged hacking. (RELATED: Dems Weigh Blaming Obama For ‘Russian Interference’)
“I’m going after Russia in every way you can go after Russia. I want Putin personally to pay a price,” the South Carolina senator said. The Director of National Intelligence has said that Russia directed hacking of Democratic officials but the White House has yet to make allegations.
Monaco said Wednesday that the White House will be careful in its disclosure of the review. “You want to do so very attentive to not disclosing sources and methods that would impede our ability to identify and attribute malicious actors in the future,” the Obama adviser said.