White House principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah reacted negatively to the notion that the U.S. should declare war on the Russian government for interfering in the 2016 presidential election.
“Members of Congress who want us to, you know, declare war on Russia, because of this matter, really are misguided,” Shah declared, adding “if you want to treat this as an act of war. Or something very extreme and have a forceful response to Russia, you know, the first place that Democrats should look is at the previous administration. They knew about this effort in 2014.”
Shah’s comments follow the Friday release of an indictment from special counsel Robert Mueller targeting Russian nationals for mounting a social media campaign to influence the 2016 presidential election.
The deputy press secretary also struck back at criticism by some Democratic lawmakers that President Donald Trump is not acting strongly enough against the Russian government.
“The president has been tough on Russia. He has been consistent on Russia. He has done things that the previous administration wasn’t willing to do until now, he authorized a bombing campaign in Syria against the Assad regime over Russian objections. He has authorized the sale of offensive weapons in Ukraine, again, against Russian objection. He has been tough, measured and smart when it comes to Russia,” he declared.