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The controversy surrounding Russia鈥檚 role in hacking the US presidential election has taken yet another turn.

"When any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections ... we need to take action," President Obama said an interview with NPR on Thursday.聽And the US will respond, he added, "at a time and place of our own choosing."

The president鈥檚 statements Thursday come after the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) said they have 鈥渉igh confidence鈥� that Russia was involved in the election, and two US intelligence agents told NBC that Russian President Vladimir Putin was personally involved. President-elect Donald Trump has also been criticized for his involvement, with White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest saying the Trump campaign's behavior "might be an indication that he was obviously aware" of the hacking.

When the president-elect logged on to Twitter Friday morning, he seemed to praise Russia鈥檚 meddling:

Trump鈥檚 tweet refers to an email hacked from the Democratic National Committee and sent to WikiLeaks in which Democratic strategist Donna Brazile gives the Clinton camp a heads up on a debate question before the Democratic debate between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) of Vermont, in Flint, Michigan.聽

鈥淥ne of the questions directed to HRC tomorrow is from a woman with a rash,鈥� Ms. Brazile titled her email. Ms. Brazile also wrote to John Podesta, Mrs. Clinton鈥檚 campaign chairman: 鈥淗er family has lead poison and she will ask what, if anything, will Hillary do as president to help the ppl of Flint.鈥澛�

Trump has written off any allegations of his involvement in Russian election hacking. In fact, Trump denies that Russia had any involvement in the election whatsoever.聽

His presidential campaign manager Kellyanne Conway criticized Mr. Earnest鈥檚 allegations of Trump鈥檚 involvement on Thursday, calling it 鈥渏ust remarkable,鈥� and 鈥渂reathtaking.鈥澛�

鈥淸H]e essentially stated that the president-elect had knowledge of this, maybe even fanned the flames,鈥� said Ms. Conway. 鈥淚t鈥檚 incredibly irresponsible and I wonder if his boss, President Obama, agrees.鈥�

However regardless of Trump鈥檚 direct involvement, President Obama also explained how he views the Republican party鈥檚 present inaction against electoral hacking as hypocritical.

鈥淭he irony of all this, of course, is that for most of my presidency, there鈥檚 been a pretty sizeable wing of the Republican Party that has consistently criticized me for not being tough enough on Russia,鈥� he said. 鈥淪ome of those folks during the campaign endorsed Donald Trump, despite the fact that a central tenet of his foreign policy was we shouldn鈥檛 be so tough on Russia. And that kind of inconsistency I think makes it appear, at least, that their particular position on Russia on any given day depends on what鈥檚 politically expedient.鈥�

But instead of finger-pointing, the issue of cybersecurity between the US and Russia can also hold great promise, the Monitor Editorial Board wrote Thursday.