Former Bush administration U.N. ambassador John Bolton said Friday morning that President Obama’s sanctions on Russia was an inadequate response to that government’s pervasive hacking of U.S. computer systems during the 2016 presidential campaign.
“I don’t think they will have much impact at all,” Mr. Bolton said Friday on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends” of Mr. Obama’s sanctions, The Hill newspaper reported.
“The Russians have walked all over the Obama administration for eight years. It’s really been a pathetic performance,” said Mr. Bolton, who previously had been under consideration by the Trump transition team for a post in the incoming administration.
Mr. Bolton’s comments echoed sentiment reported yesterday from other Republicans in Washington, such as Sen. Ben Sasse, Nebraska Republican, who called the move “too little, too late.”
“These meager steps will not decisively change Putin’s calculation that his aggressions are worth the risk,” Mr. Sasse said.
Mr. Obama announced the sanctions Thursday. In retaliation, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov planned to expel U.S. diplomats from Russia, a move vetoed by President Vladimir Putin Friday morning.
SEE ALSO: Obama orders sanctions in response to Russia’s election hacking
For his part, President-elect Donald Trump has suggested a shift away from Obama foreign policy on Russia, saying in a statement late Thursday “it’s time for our country to move on to bigger and better things.”
• Ken Shepherd can be reached at kshepherd@washingtontimes.com.
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