President Obama: Russia 'Intended to Meddle' in US Election

ABC News(WASHINGTON) — After the release of the intelligence community’s declassified report about Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election, President Obama told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that the Russians “intended to meddle.”

“I think that what is true is that the Russians intended to meddle and they meddled,” President Obama told George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive interview that will air on This Week Sunday.

The President also warned against letting partisan divides undermine U.S. intelligence.

“I’ll be honest with you, George, one of the things I am concerned about is the degree to which we’ve seen a lot of commentary lately where there are Republicans or pundits or cable commentators who seem to have more confidence in Vladimir Putin than fellow Americans because those fellow Americans are Democrats. That cannot be,” Obama said.

Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on U.S. intelligence on Russian hacking and today, even after being briefed on the matter, insisted any cyberattack had “absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election.”

Obama had this additional note for the president-elect.

“We have to remind ourselves we’re on the same team. Vladimir Putin’s not on our team,” Obama said.

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