By the accounts of three of Obama’s top national security aides, none of these recommendations formally made it to President Obama prior to the 2016 election. (Informally, several were discussed with him.) Those advisers at the top of his national-security pyramid—Susan Rice, the national security adviser; Rice’s deputy, Avril Haines, who was tasked with leading the “deputies process” to sort out the options; and Lisa Monaco, the homeland security adviser—all argued that while pushing back against the Russians was important, ensuring that the electoral process was secure was their first
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