Biden Defends Obama Admin Response to Russia: We Knew We’d Be Accused of Trying to Tip Election
Joe Biden on warnings of Russian electoral interference in fall 2016: The president and I would sit there saying, "'What they hell are we going to do?'…You got out and you unilaterally say this is what's happening, you're going to be accused…of trying to tip the election." pic.twitter.com/OUoTTJgsAb
— Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) January 23, 2018
Former Vice President Joe Biden, in defending the Obama administration’s handling of Russian interference in the 2016 election, asked people to imagine how it would have gone over if they had said more.
At a Council on Foreign Relations event today, the former veep talked about sitting with President Barack Obama after a briefing as they wondered, “What the hell are we gonna do?”
Biden said there was obviously the concern of them being perceived as “trying to tip the election” without harder data.
Joe Biden: "It's easy now to say, well, maybe we should have said more…but could you imagine" if Pres. Obama called October press conference with Trump team "and said, 'the Russians are trying to interfere in our elections'…what do you think would have happened?" pic.twitter.com/kU0pUKPYdH
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) January 23, 2018
“It’s easy now to say, well, maybe we should have said more,” Biden continued, before asking people to imagine what would have happened if Obama called a press conference with “this fellow and Bannon and company” watching and said Russia was trying to interfere in the election.
“What do you think would’ve happened?” Biden asked. “Would things have gotten better or would it have further looked like we were attempting to delegitimize the electoral process because of our opponent? That was the constant battle. Had we known what we knew three weeks later, we may have done something more.”
Watch above, via ABC News.
[image via screengrab]
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