Obama: I Told Putin 'Cut it Out' and There Would be Consequences if He Didn't

President Barack Obama says he told Russian President Vladimir Putin in September to "cut it out" in regards to hacking of American computers. He said he warned Putin of "serious consequences" and didn't see evidence of hacking after that.

Obama was speaking at his final press conference of 2016 on Friday. In addition to Russia and hacking, he discussed many issues including the economy, health insurance, and climate change.

"I have a list of who has been naughty and nice and who should be called on," he told reporters at the top. He went on to say that while these press conferences are usually a look back at the year's accomplishments, his intention was to focus on the past eight years.

"Last year, the poverty rate fell at the fastest rate in almost fifty years."

"We've cut our dependence on foreign oil by more than half, doubled production of renewable energy."

"For the first time in our history, more than 90 percent of Americans are insured."

Once he finished his opening remarks, reporters immediately started asking about Russian involvement in hacking.

"I felt that the most effective way to ensure that that didn't happen was to talk to him directly and tell him to cut it out and there were going to be serious consequences if he didn't," Obama said he told Putin when they met.

"And in fact we did not see further tampering of the election process."

As to whether he thinks Putin was behind the hacks - maybe even ordering them - Obama said "Not much happens in Russia without Vladimir Putin. This is a pretty hierarchical operation."

Asked why he wasn't more vocal about what was going on, Obama cited the "hyper-partisan atmosphere," adding "I wanted to make everybody understand we were playing this thing straight."

Obama also pointed out that even if he publicly shamed Putin, called out Russia, it likely would not have made a difference.

"The idea that somehow public shaming is going to be effective," he said. "I think does not read."

The president also took a shot at the press for focusing on every "juicy tidbit" but ignoring the bigger picture.

"You guys wrote about it every day," he said. "Every single leak about every little juicy tidbit of political gossip, including John Podesta's risotto recipe.

"This was an obsession that dominated the news coverage.”

He did not want to get into a discussion of whether he felt the hacking hurt Hillary Clinton, saying he was "going to let all the political pundits in this town have a long discussion about what happened in the election."

Obama did say that he felt the coverage of Clinton was lacking.

"I don't think she was treated fairly during the election," he said. "I think the coverage of her and the issues was troubling."

He also suggested that the president-elect should voice support for a "non-partisan" investigation.

Obama did express dismay at the number of Trump supporters in a recent poll - one-third - who support Putin.

"Ronald Reagan would roll over in his grave," he said.

The president seemed to give the president-elect a bit of a pass when it comes to Trump's recent tweets,

"As I’ve said before, I think that the president elect is still in transition mode, from campaign to governance," Obama said. "He still has campaign spokesman sort of filling in and appearing on cable shows. There's just a whole different attitude and vibe when you’re not in power as when you’re in power.

"How will the president-elect operate and how will his team operate when they've been fully briefed?"

Obama did he say has cautioned Trump to be careful about wading into policy debates before he has his team in place - and to remember the country only has one president at a time.

"What I've advised is across the board on foreign policy, you want to make sure that you’re doing at in a systematic intentional way before he starts to have a lot of interaction with foreign governments," Obama said

"He should want to have his full team in place, so that as he's then maybe taking foreign policy in a new direction, he's got all the information to make good decisions."

Asked about the meeting of the Electoral College next week and calls for electors not to vote for Trump, the president did not want to wade into that part of the discussion. He did, though, call the college "a vestige, a carryover from an earlier vision of how our federal government was going to work.

"It's the same type of thinking that gives Wyoming two senators with about half a million people and California, with 33 million, gets the same two. But the truth of the matter is that if we have a strong message, the popular vote and the Electoral College vote will align."

Obama added "If we looked for one explanation or one silver bullet, or one easy fix for our politics, then we're probably going to be disappointed."

Obama said that as he nears the end of his presidency, he does find himself getting a little sentimental pointing to the White House Christmas Party last week where he got a little choked up as the Marine Corps Band played.

"But it was just one small example of all the people who have contributed to our success," he said. "I'm responsible for where we screwed up. All the successes are shared."

Image via White House, Flickr