‘Cut it out’: Obama says he confronted Putin over hacks, defends response for refusal to act before US election

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Russian President Vladimir Putin meeting with US President Barack Obama in 2015. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:30am, 17 Dec 2016Updated: 4:16pm, 17 Dec 2016

President Barack Obama put Russia’s Vladimir Putin on notice Friday that the US could use offensive cyber muscle to retaliate for interference in the US presidential election, his strongest suggestion to date that Putin had been well aware of campaign email hacking.

“Whatever they do to us, we can potentially do to them,” Obama declared.

Not much happens in Russia without Vladimir Putin

President Barack Obama

Caught in the middle of a post-election controversy over Russian hacking, Obama strongly defended his administration’s response, including his refusal before the voting to ascribe motive to the meddling or to discuss now what effect it might have had. US intelligence assessments say it was aimed at least in part on helping Donald Trump defeat Hillary Clinton, and some Democrats say it may well have tipped the results in his favour.

Though Obama avoided criticising president-elect Trump by name, he called out Republicans who he said fail even now to acknowledge the seriousness of Russia’s involvement in US elections. Obama expressed bewilderment about Republican lawmakers and voters who now say they approve of Putin, and he said unless that changes the US will be vulnerable to foreign influence.

“Ronald Reagan would roll over in his grave,” Obama said as he closed out the year at a White House news conference. Afterward he left for the family’s annual vacation in Hawaii.