There is no serious person.. who would suggest that you could even rig America's elections. - Obama

[BVG]

The Russians didn't rig the election. They manipulated the voting base. Which are 2 different things.

And when you put it in context that they manipulated the voted base by exposing the truth about one of their candidates...

Uhmmmm we should really be saying "thank you"


If it was in fact, the Russians.

 

[Big Nasty Edison]

I don't mean this in regards to the quote in the OP, but I think there is a distinction that should be made between "rigging" and "influencing" an event.

 

[MicroBrew]

"There is no serious person out there who would suggest that you could even rig America's elections." - Direct quote from Barry shortly before the election

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/18/trump-rigged-election-obama-warning-america-divided

I'm sure we all remember this. It was Obama's statement about Trump's "whining," paired with an admonishment that it was a sign of weakness on Trump's part with the suggestion being that he wasn't presidential material.

Fast forward to a month after the election and I see headlines all about Russia, hacking elections, etc, with gads of misinformation mixed in. Then this one pops up on my news feed:

"Obama says ‘we will’ retaliate against Russia for election hacking"

"“But that does not in any way, I think, detract from the basic point that everyone during the election perceived accurately — that in fact what the Russian hack had done was create more problems for the Clinton campaign than it had for the Trump campaign.”

The video - not the article - says, verbatim:

"The Obama administration had warned, for months, that Russian hackers had tried to interfere in U.S. elections"

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/obama-says-‘we-will’-retaliate-against-russia-for-election-hacking/ar-AAlCY8m?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp

Go figure, it's the Washington Post.

I'm trying to get a handle on this here... Who is spouting the BS here? Was Obama in BS campaigning mode, telling half truths to plug the Democrat candidate when he said what was in the thread title? Is there some new definitive proof that Russians hacked the elections now, or is the headline of this article just clickbait BS? Did Obama actually say that we will retaliate against Russia - specifically, against Russia - in the last few days, or is this just some journalist interpreting it out of an otherwise unclear statement?

How do we reconcile Obama saying this:

"There is no serious person out there who would suggest that you could even rig America's elections."

With this:

"The Obama administration had warned, for months, that Russian hackers had tried to interfere in U.S. elections"

If this statement is actually true - it's not a quote from Obama, it's the WP video stating it outright.

Who's pulling the wool over our eyes? The WP? Obama? Those dastardly Russians? Does anyone have firm sources on:

A) Did Obama actually say we would retaliate for Russian hacking?
B) Has Russian hacking - especially Russian government hacking - been absolutely confirmed?
C) Was Obama essentially lying to plug Clinton and attack Trump with his "No serious person" comment?

What is the issue? What Obama said pre election does not contradict what he said post election.

Yes the Russians most likely did hack the DNC but not the voting machines . Obama has never said the Russians hacked the voting machine and manipulated the votes , so what he said pre-election is in no way contradicted by what he said now.

He also said that before the election he told Putin the US knows Russia is hacking DNC servers and to quit it or the US would retaliate.