Outgoing Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson on Wednesday laid blame at his feet and that of President Barack Obama and the entire intelligence community for the security failure that allowed Russia hacking.
"Ultimately it's all of us — the president ultimately has responsibility," Johnson said in the prime-time interview on MSNBC. "The Department of Homeland Security has responsibility. The IC [Intelligence Community], of course, it's on all of us, certainly those of us in the Cabinet."
Without taking the tack of blaming the media, Johnson was matter-of-fact how the administration's warning to the world on Oct. 7 was quickly overshadowed by another bright, shiny object that day.
Making the "unprecedented statement" that Russia had hacked and was trying to influence the country's elections couldn't compete with the 11-year-old "Access Hollywood" tape of then GOP nominee Donald Trump making lewd comments about women that surfaced the same day, Johnson said.
"That was a big deal — a foreign superpower interfering with our political process," Johnson said. "The statement was below-the-fold news that day.
"But we thought it was critical that we tell the American people and the American voters what we saw and that we have to declassify what we saw to the full extent possible," Johnson said.
Johnson also defended the decision to not name Russia president Vladimir Putin as being directly responsible for the hacks and meddling.
"It's a less provocative way of saying the same thing," Johnson said.
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