A top aide to President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview aired that the White House may have disproportionately punished Russia by ordering the expulsion of 35 suspected Russian spies.
Incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer said on ABC’s This Week that Trump will be asking questions of US intelligence agencies after President Barack Obama imposed sanctions last week on two Russian intelligence agencies over what he said was their involvement in hacking political groups in the 2016 US presidential election. Obama also ordered Russia to vacate two US facilities as part of the tough sanctions on Russia.
“One of the questions that we have is why the magnitude of this? I mean you look at 35 people being expelled, two sites being closed down, the question is, is that response in proportion to the actions taken? Maybe it was; maybe it wasn’t but you have to think about that,” Spicer said.
Trump is to have briefings with intelligence agencies this week after he returns to New York on Sunday.
On Saturday, Trump expressed continued skepticism over whether Russia was responsible for computer hacks of Democratic Party officials.
“I think it’s unfair if we don’t know. It could be somebody else. I also know things that other people don’t know so we cannot be sure,” Trump said.
He said he would disclose some information on the issue on Tuesday or Wednesday, without elaborating. It is unclear if, upon taking office on January 20, he would seek to roll back Obama’s actions, which mark a post-Cold War low in US-Russian ties.
Spicer said that after China in 2015 seized records of US government employees “no action publicly was taken. Nothing, nothing was taken when millions of people had their private information, including information on security clearances that was shared. Not one thing happened.”
“So there is a question about whether there’s a political retribution here versus a diplomatic response,” he added.
