A former member of the George W. Bush White House said the findings of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election are one person's fault: President Barack Obama.

And that started with negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Iran nuclear deal.

“Obama wanted Putin in the [Iran nuclear] deal, and to stand up to him on election interference would have, in Obama's estimation, upset that negotiation. This turned out to be a disastrous policy decision,” Scott Jennings wrote in an opinion piece for CNN, where he is a commentator.

President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal in 2018.

The Mueller report, released Thursday with redactions, revealed that Russia began interfering in American democracy in 2014. But in 2016, Obama’s national security adviser Susan Rice told her staff to stand down and not strike against Putin.

The “potential collusion narrative” was a smokescreen behind which Democrats could hide when they realized that Obama had failed to effectively address Russian meddling, Jennings said.

“He arguably chose to prioritize his relationship with Putin vis-à-vis Iran over pushing back against Russian election interference that had been going on for at least two years,” Jennings said.

President George W. Bush appointed Jennings, who worked on his 2000 campaign, special assistant to the president and deputy director of political affairs in 2005, where he served until 2007. Jennings, now a public relations executive, also worked on campaigns for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.