‘Anything’s possible:’ Obama points to Russia on DNC hack

WASHINGTON – The Associated Press

US President Barack Obama speaks to law enforcement executives at an "Advancing 21st Century Policing" briefing at the White House in Washington,DC on July 22, 2016. AFP photo

Russia may have been behind the leak of hacked Democratic National Committee documents, U.S. President Barack Obama said July 26 in his first public comments on the breach, while the Kremlin has denied the claims.
 
Asked whether Moscow was trying to influence the presidential election, Obama said, “Anything’s possible.”

Obama, who traditionally avoids commenting on active FBI investigations, broke with that protocol and noted that outside experts have blamed Russia for the leak. He leaned heavily into the notion that Russian President Vladimir Putin may have reason to facilitate the attack.

“What the motives were in terms of the leaks, all that - I can’t say directly,” Obama told NBC News. “What I do know is that Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin.”

On July 27, the Kremlin returned Obama’s claims by denying that Moscow was interfering in the U.S. election campaign to sway the vote in favor of Trump.

“President Putin has repeatedly said that Russia has never interfered and does not interfere in internal affairs, especially in the electoral processes of other countries,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters as he denied Russia was involved in a hack of Democratic National Committee emails.

“Moscow has carefully avoided any actions, any words that could be interpreted as direct or indirect influence on the electoral process,” AFP quoted Peskov as saying.