HBO "Real Time" host Bill Maher described Russian cyber attacks against the U.S. as a defining political issue that separates "patriots" from Donald Trump loyalists in an interview with ATTN: last week.

Asked whether he thought the cyber attacks — which led the Obama administration to impose new sanctions against Russia on Thursday — influenced the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, Maher said he did "because [Trump] won by such a slim margin in a few states."

"This is a slow-moving coup," Maher said.

AP/Dmitry Lovetsky - apimages.com

The U.S. intelligence community, primarily the CIA, has traced incidents of hacking to Russian individuals associated with government spy agencies, according to The New York Times. The hacks appear to have been aimed at discrediting Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton by leaking emails from her staff members, and the Democratic National Committee.

In response, The Obama administration announced on Thursday that it would expel 35 alleged Russian diplomats suspected of espionage and impose sanctions on two Russian intelligence agencies and various entities associated with them.

Russian president Vladimir Putin dismissed claims that its government was involved in the attacks but declined to retaliate by removing U.S. ambassadors from the country — a decision that President-elect Donald Trump praised on Twitter on Friday.

Trump has also downplayed the impact of Russian interference in the election, stating [it's] time for the country to move on to bigger and better things." Nevertheless, Trump claimed he would meet with intelligence officials to be briefed on the extent to which Russian interference played a role in the election.

While it's yet unknown to what degree Russian hackers were able to swing the outcome, Maher said that opposition to Russian interference in American elections should be a bipartisan concern.

"If you can’t get behind opposing [Russian involvement in the U.S. election], you are not a patriot and you are certainly not a good American," Maher said.

Watch the full interview with Maher below.

Disclosure: Bill Maher is an investor in ATTN:.