As promised, President Barack Obama announced actions that Washington is taking against Russia in response to Russian hackers' interference in the presidential election. While the public may never know of all the actions that President Obama ordered, some of the sanctions have been announced, including the expulsion of 35 Russian operatives from the United States, the Guardianreported.
The operatives are being given 72 hours to leave the U.S. Russian compounds in New York and Maryland will also be shut down, per the president's executive order.
In a statement about the sanctions, Obama said, "All Americans should be alarmed by Russia’s actions... [the hacks] could only have been directed by the highest levels of the Russian government," The Hill reports. The president also stated, "Our diplomats have experienced an unacceptable level of harassment in Moscow by Russian security services and police over the last year. Such activities have consequences." Additional actions, Obama added, will continue "at a time and place of our choosing, some of which will not be publicized." A spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow "regrets" the sanctions and will consider "retaliatory measures," the Associated Pressreported.
Trump on Wednesday delivered a vague statement on the complexity of computers when asked about the impending Russian sanctions. "I think that computers have complicated lives very greatly," he told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort, the Hill reported. "The whole age of computer has made it where nobody knows exactly what is going on."
In an official statement, he stated, “It’s time for our country to move on to bigger and better things. Nevertheless, in the interest of our country and its great people, I will meet with leaders of the intelligence community next week in order to be updated on the facts of this situation."
Over the summer, Trump said he hoped Russia would be successful in hacking Hillary Clinton's email and publishing their findings. Those statements, the New York Timesreported at the time, meant the former Apprentice host was "essentially urging a foreign adversary to conduct cyberespionage against a former secretary of state."