President Barack Obama stated in 2016 that Russia sought to interfere in United States elections but no voting machines were hacked.
Posted by Deadline: White House, Checked
- Sources
- 5 support2 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 80%
Deadline: White HouseOct 22, 2026
Obama's December 16, 2016 press conference supports the claim: he said Russia was behind the DNC hack and that there was no evidence of voting machines being tampered with, and CNN reported he saw no further tampering of the election process. The claim matches the post's wording and the record, with the EAC briefing consistent with no voting-machine hacking found.
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What was said
… So we know from the guy who's a special government employee that went in there looking for fraud that there isn't any, or there hasn't been any. What is your sense of what they will allege in terms of this barrier that I think President Obama came out in '16 and said, yes, Russia sought to interfere in our elections, but we can attest to the fact that no voting machines were hacked? John Solomon is our most recent source saying that in, in, in 2022 and 24, that was the case. What is your sense of who will be able to trust and save gutted people like Chris Krebs from inside the federal government? …
Deadline: White House · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. Obama stated at his December 16, 2016 press conference that the Russians were responsible for hacking the DNC, and the government transcript records his concern about potential hacking affecting vote counting and the election process.[3][6]
Supports. A declassified-document memo quotes Obama saying there is no "evidence of machines being tampered with" during the election, which matches the claim that no voting machines were hacked.[4]
Supports. CNN reported Obama saying "we did not see further tampering of the election process" after his Putin conversation, and TechCrunch reported he was concerned with preventing hacking of voting machines.[6][7]
Supports. An EAC briefing states that no credible evidence of hacking of voting machines or vote counting was found in any state, consistent with the claim.[5]
Context. The AP and FactCheck.org note that the Obama administration never alleged voting infrastructure was tampered with, while Russian operatives hacked Democratic emails and ran a social media campaign.[1][2]
Sources
7 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 3 primary, 1 tier 2, 1 not rated
- 1Trump Misleads on Russia Hacking - FactCheck.orgfactcheck.org · fact-checker · cited for: context
- 2Gabbard claim of anti-Trump conspiracy not backed by declassified ...apnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: context
- 3[PDF] Administration of Barack Obama, 2016 The President's News ...govinfo.gov · primary source · cited for: supports
- 4DIG-Russia-Hoax-Memo-and-Timeline_revisited.pdfarchive.dni.gov · primary source · cited for: supports
- 5[PDF] Key Facts and Findings on Cybersecurity and Foreign Targeting of ...eac.gov · primary source · cited for: supports
- 6Obama all but names Putin as behind hacking | CNN Politicscnn.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 7Obama defends White House handling of Russian hacking | TechCrunchtechcrunch.com · not rated · cited for: supports
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post