US President Donald Trump on Sunday blasted his predecessor Barack Obama for not wanting to upset the "apple cart" by investigating Russian meddling in 2016 presidential elections as he was sure of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's win.
Allegations of Russian interference and possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia are being investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Trump has denied accusations of campaign collusion calling them "phoney" or without any basis. He often attacks law enforcement agencies and Obama for the allegations. Russia also denies meddling in the US elections.
In a tweet, Trump asked, "Why didn’t President Obama do something about the so-called Russian Meddling when he was told about it by the FBI before the Election?"
The President also provided the answer in the same tweet and said, "Because he thought Crooked Hillary was going to win, and he didn’t want to upset the apple cart! He was in charge, not me, and did nothing."
His tweet came amid reports that the Senate Intelligence Committee has concluded that President Barack Obama’s administration was too slow to investigate suspected Russian interference in the 2016 US election.
Senate investigators have found that although there was mounting evidence of Russian interference for months before the November 2016 election, the Obama administration did not press US intelligence and law enforcement agencies to investigate, according to a Reuters report which quoted two sources.
However, law enforcement and intelligence officials say the administration’s stance was consistent with customary law enforcement and intelligence agency practice to avoid influencing voters in the run-up to an election.
The bipartisan report, expected this summer, appears to undercut a suggestion by Trump and his supporters that the FBI may have planted an informant in his campaign to supply evidence of collusion with Russia, the sources said.
In the months before the election, the FBI also was investigating the Clinton Foundation for its fundraising practices and Hillary’s and some of her associates’ use of a private email server while she was Obama’s Secretary of State.
An unclassified extract of one report made public by the committee examined security weaknesses in US election systems. The second concurred with the assessment by the FBI, CIA and National Security Agency that Russia tried to assist Trump and damage Clinton, the committee said in a press release.
Some of Trump’s closest conservative allies in Congress last week called for the appointment of a second special counsel to investigate the FBI probe into Trump’s campaign, Russia and the 2016 election.
(With Reuters inputs)
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