The Democratic theory that Russia wanted Donald Trump to win the election makes no sense, because Trump will be a much tougher president than President Obama has been, the president-elect's adviser Kellyanne Conway argued Friday.

"Why would Russia want Donald Trump to win the presidency?" Conway asked on Fox News.

"Donald Trump is going to increase the defense budget, he's going to modernize our nuclear capability, he wants to explore oil and gas. All of that hurts Russia and emboldens America," she said.

Conway said Obama showed again that he's been a weak president when it comes to Russia, when he responded to Russia's alleged hacking of Democratic emails by saying he told Russia to "knock it off," although he also later imposed sanctions against Russia.

"I mean, what is this 'knock it off?'" Conway said. "I think when people look back at President Obama's legacy vis-a-vis Vladimir Putin, they're not going to say, 'there was a tough guy.' Vladimir Putin has had his way with us."

Democrats have pointed to U.S. intelligence assessments saying that Russia hacked into and leaked Democratic emails in order to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton. But Republicans have downplayed that assessment and have said it's just an excuse Democrats are making for losing the election.

Conway said she agreed.

"I think retroactively, folks are still looking for an excuse that isn't named Hillary Clinton or her disastrous campaign message," she said.