The Washington Post just published a detailed report from inside the Obama White House as it deliberated potential responses to Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. The report says Russian government attempts to elect Donald Trump were detected early last August, but the White House hesitated on retaliating. It describes an administration fearing to take action against Russia, fearing the perception that it may be trying to tip the scales in favor of Hillary Clinton, confident that their candidate would win the election and could take action once she was in the Oval Office.

The report is jam packed with new details, like the “intelligence bombshell” sent by a CIA courier to the White House, only to be seen by President Obama and three senior aides before the document was returned to the CIA. Inside were details about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s personal involvement with a campaign aimed at hurting Hillary Clinton and electing Donald Trump president.

The Obama administration wrestled with how to respond, and only after Trump was elected did it decide to retaliate. The Post reports that one of the unpublicized directions given to intelligence agencies like the National Security Agency was to identify weaknesses in Russian infrastructure to later use as a potential weapon. But the senior Obama administration officials felt the response was too little, too late. Trump was president. ��I feel like we sort of choked,” one former senior official told The Post.