Obama hopes Trump shows concern over Russian hacking

Obama says he hopes Trump will make sure U.S. doesn't have "potential foreign influence" in elections.

Washington, Dec 17: Concerned over alleged Russian cyberattacks, outgoing US President Barack Obama has hoped that his successor Donald Trump will show equal concern to ensure that the American election process is not under a potential "foreign influence".

"My hope is that the president-elect is going to similarly be concerned with making sure that we don't have a potential foreign influence in our election process. I don't think any American wants that. And that shouldn't be a source of an argument," Obama told reporters yesterday. According to a CNN report, Trump had expressed concern over the cyber hacking.

Obama told reporters that there was no difference in view that Russia was behind the cyber hacking. "There hasn't been a lot of squabbling. What we've simply said is the facts, which are that based on uniform intelligence assessments, the Russians were responsible for hacking the DNC and that as a consequence, it is important for us to review all elements of that and make sure that we are preventing that kind of interference through cyber attacks in the future.

That should be a bipartisan issue, that shouldn't be a partisan issue," Obama said. "Part of the challenge is that it gets caught up in the carryover from election season. And I think it is very important for us to distinguish between the politics of the election and the need for us as a country, both from a national security perspective but also in terms of the integrity of our election system and our democracy to make sure that we don't create a political football here," he said.

Obama hoped that when Trump takes the oath of office and is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States, he has got a different set of responsibilities and considerations. Obama, who has ordered an investigation into Russian hacking, said walking into the Oval Office has a sobering process. "I've said this before. I think there is a sobering process when you walk into the Oval Office. I haven't shared previously private conversations I've had with the President-elect.

"I will say that they have been cordial and in some cases have involved me making some pretty specific suggestions about how to ensure that regardless of our obvious deep disagreements about policy, maybe I can transmit some thoughts about maintaining the effectiveness, integrity, cohesion of the office, our various democratic institutions, and he has listened," he said. "I can't say that he will end up implementing, but the conversations themselves have been cordial as opposed to defensive in any way. And I will always make myself available to him just as previous presidents have made themselves available to me as issues come up," he said.

PTI