President Obama’s new sanctions against the Russian government for cyberattacks against Democrats are “insufficient,” the interim chair of the Democratic National Committee said in a statement on Thursday.
Donna Brazile said in a statement that while the DNC applauds Obama for responding to cyberattacks against the party and Clinton campaign, “more must be done.”
“Today’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,” Brazile said in a statement, The Hill reported.
Earlier on Thursday, the White House announced a sanctions package that will force 35 Russian agents residing in San Francisco and New York to leave the U.S. within 72 hours. Financial sanctions are also being levied against four officials within Russia’s GRU, the intelligence agency that U.S. officials say coordinated the cyberattacks.
On top of that, the government is closing off Russian access to properties that the Russians own in New York City and Maryland.
The Obama administration and intelligence agencies have insisted that the Russian government is behind attacks against the DNC and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.
Brazile, a longtime Democratic consultant, was embarrassed by the release of some of those emails.
Several emails stolen from Podesta’s account and published by WikiLeaks in October showed Brazile sharing CNN debate and town hall questions with the Clinton campaign while she was working as a contributor for the network.
Ironically, Brazile rose to the position of DNC interim chair because of revelations in the DNC’s hacked emails. The documents, which were published by WikiLeaks in July, showed then-DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and other party officials scheming against Clinton’s primary opponent, Bernie Sanders.
Trump responded to Obama’s sanctions with a statement saying that “it’s time for our country to move on to bigger and better things.” He said that he will receive updates on the hacking investigation when he meets with the intelligence community next week.
