President Donald Trump suggested online Wednesday that the Obama administration should be subject to federal investigation for its failure to stop Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, directing his followers to “ask Jeff Sessions” why such probes were not underway.

“Question: If all of the Russian meddling took place during the Obama Administration, right up to January 20th, why aren’t they the subject of the investigation? Why didn’t Obama do something about the meddling? Why aren’t Dem crimes under investigation? Ask Jeff Session!” the president wrote on Twitter, misspelling the name of his attorney general, Jeff Sessions. Trump later reposted the tweet with the correct spelling of the attorney general’s name.


Sessions recused himself from any Justice Department investigations related to the 2016 election after media reports exposed misstatements he made to the Senate Judiciary Committee about his interactions with Russian officials during the campaign. Trump has been loudly critical of Sessions’ decision to recuse himself.

The president has ramped up in recent days his criticism of the Obama administration, specifically with reference to Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. Trump’s attacks against Obama follow indictments announced last week by the office of special counselor Robert Mueller against 13 Russian nationals accused of engaging in online political interference in the months and years leading up to the 2016 race.

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Mueller’s indictment alleges that the Russian efforts outlined in the charging document date back as far as 2014, well before Trump announced he would enter the presidential race. That point has fueled Trump’s insistence that allegations that his campaign colluded with the Kremlin’s efforts are baseless and that ongoing investigations into those accusations, including Mueller’s, are a “witch hunt.”

Allies of the president have also seized on portions of the most recent Mueller indictments, accusing the Russian nationals of promoting anti-Trump sentiment and rhetoric online, a point that some Trump defenders have argued counters the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that the Kremlin’s interference efforts were intended specifically to boost Trump’s candidacy and hinder that of Democrat Hillary Clinton.


Despite the president’s suggestion that his immediate predecessor did nothing to combat Russian election interference, it is Trump who has thus far declined to impose congressionally approved sanctions on Russia intended to punish it for its meddling efforts. Trump has also been decidedly softer in his rhetoric toward Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin, especially relative to his otherwise get-tough approach to foreign policy.

Obama, in the waning weeks of his own presidency, ordered closed two Russian diplomatic facilities, one in Maryland and another in New York, in retaliation for the Kremlin’s election interference. And Vice President Joe Biden said last month that Obama had sought support during the 2016 campaign from Republican leadership on Capitol Hill in speaking out about Russian election interference — an attempt to shield such a disclosure from likely attacks of partisanship — but was turned down by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.