Trump team on retaliation against Russia: ‘Why the magnitude of this?’

On Sunday, Donald Trump’s incoming press secretary, Sean Spicer, questioned the severity of President Obama’s retaliation against Russia for cyberattacks on Democratic officials.

“I think one of the questions we have is: Why the magnitude of this?” Spicer asked on ABC’s “This Week.”

Last week, the Obama administration announced that it was taking a series of actions against Russia after accusing Moscow of spearheading hacking attacks against the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman. A trove of politically embarrassing emails was released during the election campaign.

In retaliation, the White House expelled 35 Russians and closed two waterfront estates, one in New York and one in Maryland, that it said were involved in Russian intelligence operations. The administration also announced sanctions, and said it would take further covert actions against the Kremlin.

A number of Republicans declared that the measures taken by the Obama administration retaliation were did not go far enough. Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., described them as an “initial step.” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the U.S. actions were “overdue.” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also said they were “overdue,” but described them as “a small price for Russia to pay for its brazen attack on American democracy.”

Spicer suggested on Sunday, however, that the White House had overreacted.

“I mean, you look at 35 people being expelled, two sites being closed down. The question is: Is that response in proportion to the actions taken? Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t,” he said.

He noted another massive data breach of the Office of Personnel Management in 2015, which the Obama administration accused China of backing.

“China took over a million records, sensitive data,” Spicer said. “No action publicly was taken. Nothing. Nothing was taken. … Not one thing happened. So there is a question about whether there’s a political retribution here, vs. a diplomatic response.”

Trump has repeatedly questioned the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Russian-backed hackers sought to influence the 2016 election. At a New Year’s Eve event in Florida on Saturday night, the president-elect cited the intelligence failure that claimed erroneously that President Saddam Hussein was harboring nuclear weapons, after which George W. Bush’s administration invaded Iraq in 2003.

“Well, I just want them to be sure, because it’s a pretty serious charge, and I want them to be sure,” Trump said, according to a pool report. “And if you look at the weapons of mass destruction, that was a disaster, and they were wrong. And so I want them to be sure. I think it’s unfair if they don’t know. And I know a lot about hacking. And hacking is a very hard thing to prove. So it could be somebody else. And I also know things that other people don’t know, and so they cannot be sure of the situation.”

Asked what he knew that others didn’t, Trump replied: “You’ll find out on Tuesday or Wednesday.” (It was not clear what he was referring to.)

Last week, Trump praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for his “very smart” decision not to lash out officially after the U.S. response to the cyberattacks. Putin said at the time that he would wait until Trump takes office on Jan. 20 and then take stock of the policies of the new administration.