President Obama: U.S. Will Take Action Against Russia Over Election Hacking

The U.S. will “take action” against Russia over its election hacking, President Barack Obama told National Public Radio Thursday. The CIA confirmed it’s “quite clear” Russia interfered to ensure now president-elect Donald Trump’s win. Further intelligence has reportedly found that Russian President Vladimir Putin was directly involved in hacking efforts.

"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," Obama said. Elaborating on this seemingly inevitable retaliation, he continued, "[S]ome of it may be explicit and publicized; some of it may not be." The President also said he spoke to Putin about a U.S. response: "Mr. Putin is well aware of my feelings about this, because I spoke to him directly about it."

Obama ordered a “full review” of the election-related hacking last week, after accusing Russia in October of being responsible for the hacking. As a result of that and other intelligence about Russia, senators have called for an investigation of Russia's election interference. Electoral college members have asked for an intelligence briefing about Russia's interference before casting their votes.

When asked if the U.S. has taken action yet, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Thursday, "The President determined once the intelligence community had reached this assessment that a proportional response was appropriate. At this point, I don't have anything to say about whether or not that response has been carried out."

Trump is set to take over in a little over a month and his relationship with Putin is friendly. Putin sent Trump a telegram congratulating him after the election.