Susan Rice reportedly told the White House cyber team to ‘knock it off’ when they tried to combat Russian meddling

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• Former President Barack Obama’s cyber response team reportedly wanted to strike back hard at Russia when they first learned of its election meddling in the summer of 2016. 
• But as they began floating options on how to respond, then-national security adviser Susan Rice allegedly told them to stand down and “knock it off.”
• The revelation is yet another indication of the internal strife within the Obama administration about how to respond to Russia’s interference as it was unfolding, while being careful not to make it appear like they were putting a thumb on the scale in favor of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. 

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In the summer of 2016, while the US intelligence community was just beginning to grasp the magnitude of Russia’s attack on the 2016 election, Obama administration officials were torn over how to respond.

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