Obama threatens to hit back at Russia over US election hacks

US President Barack Obama on Friday promised to respond to Russia’s alleged interference in the just concluded US presidential election after he had earlier hinted that Russia's president, Vladimir Putin knew about the alleged email hackings in the election following the conclusion by the US intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in the election to aid president-elect Donald Trump to victory over rival Hillary Clinton.

Speaking at his final 2016 White House news conference, Obama said;

“Not much happens in Russia without Vladimir Putin. This is a pretty hierarchical operation.  

"We have said, and I will confirm, that this happened at the highest levels of the Russian government,” Obama said.

“The intelligence I’ve seen gives me great confidence that the Russians have carried out this hack — the hack of the DNC and the hack of John Podesta,” he added.

Obama went on to express his surprise over Republican lawmakers approval of Putin saying that "Ronald Reagan would roll over in his grave."

In an interview with National Public Radio published on Friday, Obama said the US would retaliate. 

“There is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections, we need to take action,” he told NPR.

“And we will, at a time and place of our own choosing. Some of it may be explicit and publicised, some of it may not be,” he concluded.

Obama also urged Trump carry out a bipartisan investigation into the issue.

Trump has however disputed the conclusion by US intelligence agencies. 

Associated Press