Trump: Obama didn’t want to ‘upset the apple cart’ by investigating Russians

President Trump on Sunday accused former President Obama of knowing about Russian meddling in the 2016 election and not doing anything to stop it — despite reports that the Obama administration made multiple attempts to stave off interference from the Kremlin.

Trump took to Twitter Sunday afternoon, saying that Obama was informed of the meddling by the FBI, but chose not to act on that information because he thought Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton was going to win the election.

{mosads}“Why didn’t President Obama do something about the so-called Russian Meddling when he was told about it by the FBI before the Election?” Trump asked in a tweet. “Because he thought Crooked Hillary was going to win, and he didn’t want to upset the apple cart!”

Why didn’t President Obama do something about the so-called Russian Meddling when he was told about it by the FBI before the Election? Because he thought Crooked Hillary was going to win, and he didn’t want to upset the apple cart! He was in charge, not me, and did nothing.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2018

Trump has lodged a number of accusations at Obama for not doing anything about Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 election. However, the administration did take action against Russia.

Intelligence officials under Obama warned Russian intelligence officers against becoming involved in the election and Obama told Russian President Vladimir Putin not to interfere.

After the election, Obama imposed new sanctions on Russia and expelled a number of Russian diplomats.

Former Vice President Joe Biden has said that the Obama administration wanted a bipartisan statement condemning Russia’s interference but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) would not cooperate.

Obama administration officials have said they did not want to appear to be helping out Clinton. Obama himself said in December 2016 that he didn’t think he should have acted differently.

“There have been folks out there who suggest somehow if we went out there and made big announcements and thumped our chests about a bunch of stuff, that somehow it would potentially spook the Russians,” he said. “I think it doesn’t read the thought process in Russia very well.”