Politics

Obama needs to go big to 'shame' Russia's Putin on election hacking: Chuck Todd

US needs to go big to shame Russia on hacking: Chuck Todd
VIDEO1:0801:08
US needs to go big to shame Russia on hacking: Chuck Todd

President Barack Obama has no choice but to publicly reveal the evidence that Russia hacked Democratic computers to disrupt the presidential election, NBC News political director Chuck Todd told CNBC on Friday.

Todd spoke ahead of the president's scheduled 2:15 p.m. ET news conference.

"Just lay it out there. Lay out all the evidence in public. Connect the dots, because that might be the best way to embarrass [Russian President Vladimir Putin] in the world," the moderator of NBC's "Meet the Press" said on "Squawk Box."

High-level Obama administration officials told NBC News the White House did not respond more forcefully to Russian hacking before the election in order to avoid the appearance of interfering with the vote. Officials assumed Democrat Hillary Clinton would beat Republican Donald Trump and felt potential a cyberwar with Russia wasn't worth it, NBC News reports. The Kremlin said Friday that Washington should either prove the accusations or drop the issue.

"If you want it to be effective, if you want to shame Putin from doing this again, I think you have to go big on this. And big as in show you're work," Todd said.