Ex-obama official: i was concerned about russian meddling 'cover-up' after the election

A former Defense Department official said Thursday that she was afraid of a cover-up about Russian interference during the U.S. presidential election. Evelyn Farkas, former deputy assistant

secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, said post-election she urged colleagues to get all the information they could before former President Barack Obama left office. "We

were having a transition of power from the Obama administration to the Trump administration. If indeed there was an investigation ongoing, if indeed there was information the Obama

administration had about Russian interference and possible American involvement, I wanted to make sure Congress knew about it," she said on "Squawk Box." "I was afraid of

a cover-up," she added. Farkas, a former Obama administration official, first made her disclosure about urging colleagues to gather intelligence about possible Russian ties on MSNBC

earlier this month. "I had a fear that somehow that information would disappear with the senior (Obama) people who left, so it would be hidden away in the bureaucracy," she told

MSNBC. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been accused of interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Donald

Trump, said Thursday that he has never interfered in U.S. elections. Speaking to CNBC at the Arctic Forum in Arkhangelsk, Russia, the Russian president denied it. Farkas said she believes

the consensus of U.S. intelligence experts over Putin. "Our entire intelligence community, with high confidence saying that Vladimir Putin in 2016 directed an information operation

against the U.S. elections in order to reduce Americans' confidence in their democracy and in elections," she said. Earlier this month, FBI Director James Comey confirmed the

bureau had launched an investigation into Russia's influence on the 2016 presidential election.