Trump accuses Obama of "obstructing" the 2016 election

President Trump on Monday tweeted that President Obama had "obstructed or colluded" in the 2016 presidential election by not pursuing Russian hackers. The president also demanded an apology for allegations that his staff had colluded with Russian officials. 

After an extensive report was published last week by the Washington Post documenting President Obama's struggle to contain the 2016 Russian cyber threat, Mr. Trump accused the former president of letting domestic politics shape foreign policy decisions. 

"The reason that President Obama did NOTHING about Russia after being notified by the CIA of meddling is that he expected [Hillary] Clinton would win," Mr. Trump wrote.

The president elaborated on what he perceived to be Obama's motives, saying that the former president had "obstructed or colluded" in the 2016 election because he didn't want to "rock the boat" before the election.   

Mr. Trump attempted to distance himself from several investigations that are probing his staff and campaign's possible involvement with Russian officials during the campaign. 

"The real story is that President Obama did NOTHING after being informed in August about Russian meddling. With 4 months looking at Russia..." he said, "...under a magnifying glass, they have 'zero tapes' of T people colluding. There is no collusion & no obstruction. I should be given an apology!" 

The president also addressed another hot topic in Washington: health-care reform. In advance of a vote before the July 4 recess on the Senate's bill to repeal-and-replace Obamacare, the Better Care Reconciliation Act, Mr. Trump issued a strong condemnation of Democratic legislators' resistance to Republican-led reform. 

"The Democrats have become nothing but OBSTRUCTIONISTS, they have no policies or ideas. All they do is delay and complain. They own ObamaCare!" wrote Mr. Trump.

In another one of Mr. Trump's morning tweets, he mentioned the difficulty of health-care reform, affirming that Republicans were working hard to pass the 142-page Better Care Reconciliation Act. And if they failed, Mr. Trump suggested, they could let Obamacare collapse by itself -- a possibility Mr. Trump tinkered with after the House's failure to bring a reform bill to the floor for a vote in March. 

"Republican Senators are working very hard to get there, with no help from the Democrats. Not easy! Perhaps just let OCare crash & burn!" he said. 

As the Senate's Better Care Reconciliation Act currently stands, Republican members do not appear to have enough votes to pass it with a simple majority. The bill needs 51 votes to pass, and currently, five Republicans publicly oppose the bill. The GOP can only afford two dissenting votes. According to Reuters, the bill is going through some revisions this week. 

Last week, Mr. Trump seemed to acknowledge Russian meddling in the 2016 election as he tweeted criticisms of the Obama administration. On Friday, Mr. Trump posed rhetorical questions through his favorite medium about why the Obama administration "did nothing" to address Russian involvement despite knowing the threat. 

Obama did take some steps to thwart and punish Russian involvement, though. He sent warnings to Russian officials, asking the country to discontinue its lucrative and aggressive behavior. But when Russia refused to comply with the requests, according to the Washington Post, the lame-duck president devised secret "implants" in Russian networks. In January, Obama also expelled 35 Russian diplomats from Maryland and New York, who were suspected of spying. 

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• Republican Party
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• Barack Obama