perhaps over the summer, as you suggested. why do you think they weren t? why did the obama administration wait until now? i think the white house has been pretty straightforward about that. they were afraid that maybe it would be politicized, that maybe people wouldn t believe the intelligence or they would think that the white house had a political agenda in trying to help, perhaps, secretary clinton. i think that was a miscalculation, frankly speaking. it s about the national security. donald trump is going to face this issue in about 21 days. it s got to be his government that they are now trying to hack. and by the way, yesterday, when u.s. administration officials were briefing people on background, they were very clear that they think the russians are continuing to try to hack into, maybe not elections at t moment, but certainly into critical u.s., either private or government e-mail systems. so, one of the reasons why dhs actually put up a whole long, probably very wonky manu
guess, that hillary would win, and that this would maybe not be consequential in the end. so if you re vladimir putin and looking at this, i do wonder, do you say, okay, i have 35 diplomats expelled, but the trade-off is okay for me, because i got donald trump in office, someone who s way more predisposed to me than hillary clinton ever would be? it s the craziest thing of everything involving donald trump and his relationship with the republican party. republican leaders criticize president obama for being too soft on russia. there s no issue on which donald trump is more out of step with tom cotton and other republicans in congress. he couldn t be more of an appeaser of putin and his rhetoric. i think in a couple of weeks when he takes over, what will his policies actually be towards russia? will they be in any way tougher? will they be real politic in terms of trying to make deals with them. but it is laughable to see republicans criticize president obama for being soft on putin w
i m wondering about intelligence officials. what do you think it takes i know you ve talked to donald trump multiple times and an understanding of how he approaches a lot of these things. what s it going to take to convince him that this is something that actually happened? i m not sure, but you can almost hear the drum beat right now in washington, among democrats, republicans, the traditional hawks on foreign policy. they think this issue deserves to be at the top of the agenda next year, not only should there be congressional probes, but there should perhaps be a select committee. there s going to be pressure on the republican leadership. speaker ryan, who issued a statement somewhat supportive of the president ee s alaskas yesterday on leader mcconnell. but the problem when i was talking to people down at mar-a-lago last night on the phone and those next to trump is that they look at 2017 and say, we want to get tax reform, affordable care act, supreme court nominee, infrastruc
technicians who run computer systems for companies and other organizations is that they want the whole of u.s. society, if you will, to be geared up, to be ready and to take down any russian efforts right now. because they are doing a lot of this, even today. and just as everyone s been talking, vladimir putin himself has come out and said, in fact, united states diplomats will not be expelled from russia. foreign minister sergey lavrov had suggested earlier this morning, as we reported, that 35 diplomats would be expelled from russia to match the 35 russians expelled from the united states, but vladimir putin himself now saying, that is not accurate. bob? so based on putin s comments today, what would it look like if the u.s. followed the course that president-elect trump is recommending. that everyone just moves on and there s no kind of investigation and this isn t a central issue. what are the foreign policy consequences to that, if that happens? i think that would be really
from the same constituents that voted these folks into office? well, it s a great question. that s what republicans are grappling with. there are so many elements, whether it s tax law, of obamacare, or the health care benefits, if you re taking health care benefits away, that s not going to sit well. now, i was just i spent the holidays in williamsport, pennsylvania, the middle of trump country. people are excited about a trump presidency, unlike many people in the washington beltway. however, if you re not going to be keeping your campaign promises and taking benefits away. if this replacement bill is a huge has a huge price tag, conservatives are not going to go for it. so this is, i think, one of the thorniest issues for republicans. it s been a big political issue that they ve done well on the marketing of obamacare is bad, but replacing it is going to be an enormous task. all right. bob cusack with the hill, thanks so much and happy new year. happy new year. coming