Technology
President Trump claims the US has initiated a 2018 cyber attack on Russian trolls
President Trump has told The Washington Post that he ordered a 2018 cyber assault on the Russian Internet Research Agency (IRA), the first time he has confirmed that he has done so. In an interview with Post columnist Marc Thiessen, Trump stated that the attack — reported last year by the Post — began on the mid-term day of 2018 and succeeded in undermining Russia's misinformation strategy to create questions about the mid-term outcomes.
“ Look, we stopped it, ” the president told Thiessen.
As part of Russia 's overall election meddling, the IRA operated a troll factory in 2016 which also included stealing emails from the Democratic National Committee.
In the past, in light of confirmation from American intelligence services that Russia was responsible, President Trump had doubted whether Russia was interested in the DNC breach.
Trump suggested during the Post interview that former President Barack Obama was aware of the hacking attempts by Russia and did little to prevent them. But, as the Post points out, not only did President Obama single Russia out for the DNC attack, but he claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin was personally interested in the attempts. Obama imposed sanctions on Russia in December 2016 over election hacking.
