--- title: Russia Hacking on Election: Donald Trump Blames Obama description: As Senate Republicans prepared for the release of the healthcare bill, President Trump was tweeting about the Russia investigation. canonical: https://time.com/4828283/russia-hacking-election-trump-tweet-obama/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-22T15:08:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:19:39.829Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Points Finger at Barack Obama on Hacking og:description: The tweetstorm came right before Senate Republicans unveiled their healthcare bill. og:url: https://time.com/4828283/russia-hacking-election-trump-tweet-obama/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb8c4e9ea059cac2/6988d2cafb4eac269e892928/trump_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4254 og:image:height: 2393 og:image:alt: Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Points Finger at Barack Obama on Hacking twitter:description: The tweetstorm came right before Senate Republicans unveiled their healthcare bill. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb8c4e9ea059cac2/6988d2cafb4eac269e892928/trump_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Points Finger at Obama on Russian Election Hack > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=ffd8058e-1df0-4fd8-8ffb-80e2394f7072&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: When Something Goes Wrong, President Trump Blames the Democrats [Watch (HLS stream): When Something Goes Wrong, President Trump Blames the Democrats](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/uoTkMlvO.m3u8) (1:28)  _Published 2017-06-23. When something goes wrong, Donald Trump knows who to blame: Democrats. Though Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress, Trump has pinned the blame for a number of problems onto congressional Democrats._  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jun 22, 2017 3:08 PM UTC When something goes wrong, Donald Trump knows who to blame: Democrats. Though Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress, Trump has pinned the blame for a number of problems onto congressional Democrats.  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jun 22, 2017 3:08 PM UTC As Senate Republicans huddled in the Capitol before the release of the much anticipated [Senate healthcare bill,](http://time.com/4827532/ahca-senate-house-health-care-bill/) President Trump, [fresh off a rally in Iowa,](http://time.com/4828157/donald-trump-cabinet-iowa-rally-poor-person/) was unleashing yet another Twitter storm. This time, it was about his predecessor’s knowledge of Russian hacking and the current state of the Democratic Party. The President claimed he was vindicated by the testimony of President Obama’s [Homeland Security Security, Jeh Johnson](http://time.com/4157583/homeland-security-isis-and-the-fight-against-fear/), who testified before the House Intelligence Committee about Russian interference in the election, and told Rep. Trey Gowdy he didn’t have any evidence “beyond what has been out there” that Donald Trump or his associates colluded with Russia during the 2016 election. But Trump also tweeted about his predecessor Barack Obama, questioning why he didn’t stop the Russians if he knew what was happening. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/877879361130688512) President Obama’s spokesman did not respond to request for comment. During his testimony, Johnson said election systems in as many as 21 states were targeted by hackers. He and the Administration were concerned about the possibility of hacking, he said, but ultimately decided not to implement a measure to increase cybersecurity for election infrastructure, deciding it would”counterproductive” during the election. Homeland Security [released a statement](https://www.dhs.gov/news/2016/10/07/joint-statement-department-homeland-security-and-office-director-national) on October 7 claiming the intelligence community’s confidence that “the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations.” When asked during his testimony why the Administration didn’t release a statement until October, even though they were confident of Russian hacking attempts as early as August, Johnson responded that they were being cautious because it was an election season. “Many would criticize us for perhaps taking sides in the election, so that had to be carefully considered,” said Johnson, noting that Trump repeatedly kept making claims about a “rigged” election. Although Johnson said he repeatedly encouraged state and local officials to seek help from DHS, he also said that the Democratic National Committee did not want the Homeland Security Department’s help after their database was hacked last summer, telling the department they had been in touch with the FBI. Trump quickly seized this point for his tweets, calling it a “big Dem HOAX!” > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/877889199353077760) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/877891129194102785) But the Department of Homeland Security sent out a notice about election hacking October 7, and Obama did order a review of election hacking in December of 2016. Although Rep. Jackie Speier, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, pushed back against Johnson’s claims about the DNC during his testimony, she did conclude the Obama Administration may have acted too slowly on the matter of hacking. “I think what we learned from the testimony today was that we acted very late in the game,” Speier [said on CNN Wednesday.](http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2017/06/21/lead-jackie-speier-interview-live.cnn) ## Transcript [00:00] When something goes wrong, Donald Trump nows who [00:02] to blame, Democrats. Democrats are putting it out. [00:05] The democrats are putting that out. We have no votes [00:08] from the democrats. The republicans control the White [00:10] House, and both Chambers of Congress. Trump has [00:12] pinned the blame for a a number of problems onto [00:14] congressional democrats. That includes things in which [00:16] democrats stood in the sidelines, like the first version [00:19] of the House Health Care Bill. Look at the size. This is [00:23] the Democrats. This is us. Which failed when [00:25] conservative drop their support. Did not get any clear [00:28] in terms of this is government and this is not. Thank [00:31] you very much. We were very close. It was very very [00:35] tight margin. We had no Democrat support. We had no [00:39] votes from the Democrats. It also includes things that [00:41] are mostly tra Trump's fault like the slow pace of filling [00:43] senate confirmed jobs where he hasn't named anyone. [00:47] And it includes things that haven't happened yet. Like [00:50] a government shutdown if congress can't agree on a [00:51] spending plan. Trump has repeatedly blamed [00:55] democrats for the investigations into Russian meddling [00:58] in the 2016 election. According to the Washington Post, [01:01] the CIA has concluded That Russia intervened in the [01:05] election to help you win the Presidency, your reaction? [01:09] It think it's ridiculous, I think it's just another excuse, I [01:12] don't believe it. Which he says they're treating as an [01:14] excuse for their loss. 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