President Barack Obama's recent actions appear to be an attempt to limit president-elect Donald Trump, The Hill reports.
On Thursday, the Obama administration placed sanctions on Russia for alleged interference in the recent U.S. election. Trump has denied that Russia was involved in the email leaks from major members of the Democratic party during the campaign, but he may face steep opposition from Congress if he tries to reverse Obama's decision.
"Hypothetically, you could reverse those sanctions," one senior Obama administration official told reporters. "But it wouldn't make a lot of sense."
Additionally, the Obama administration declined to veto the United Nations Security Council vote to condemn Israeli settlements in disputed territory. Trump decried the decision, and urged Israel to "stay strong" until his inauguration.
Obama also prohibited drilling for oil and gas in parts of the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, protected 1.6 million acres of land from development using the Antiquities Act, and dismantled a registration system that was mainly used on Muslim immigrants.
Trump reacted to Obama's recent actions on Twitter Wednesday, where he accused the president of setting up "roadblocks."
Though later that day, after speaking with Obama on the phone, Trump told reporters that the transition is going "very, very smoothly."
Trump's incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that Obama's actions could limit his successor, but said that the administration has been "very helpful" in organizing the transition.
"Both the regulatory stuff, the executive orders that are on the way out … that [is] something that I believe, you know, makes it a little bit tougher in terms of the transition on the policy side," he added.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.