Texas Republican decries US election hack: 'Russian ambassador should have been kicked out'

A Republican congressman has suggested the US should have taken a strong stance against Russia before the presidential election by "kicking out" the Russian ambassador.

Will Hurd, the GOP representative for Texas who previously worked as an undercover intelligence agent, said an attack on the DNC was an attack on everyone - and urged action be taken.

"I've been calling for months – at a minimum, we should have kicked the Russian ambassador out of the United States or the senior intelligence officer," Hurd told CNN's New Day, adding president Barack Obama's response had not been strong enough.

"It's not enough to tell someone to cut it out," he said.

Hurd has openly backed the consensus by US intelligence agencies that Russia was behind the US election hacks – something Republican president-elect Donald Trump has largely avoided agreeing with.

In a tweet, Trump rejected conclusions from US intelligence agencies suggesting Russian president Vladimir Putin had direct involvement in the hacking scheme. "If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?" read the post.

Trump's transition team also described the news of Putin's alleged involvement in the election hack as part of a continued effort to delegitimise the election result.

But many members of the GOP do not share Trump's non-committal attitude towards the hacking, with Hurd stating action must be taken, The Hill report.

"It is clear that organizations tied to Russian intelligence was involved in the DCCC – the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee – and DNC hacks," he said, adding: "The reality is the DCCC spent $6 million trying to unseat me, but an attack on them is an attack on all of us."