“The ‘Intelligence’ briefing on so-called ‘Russian hacking’ was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!” Trump wrote on his Twitter page.
The “Intelligence” briefing on so-called “Russian hacking” was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017
US President-elect Donald Trump has expressed his surprise that his meeting with intelligence officials to be briefed over Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election, has been delayed.
Trump’s spokesman Sean Spicer too earlier cast doubt on a US intelligence report claiming that Russia directed hacks on the Democratic National Committee to influence the US presidential election in favor of Trump.
Spicer said in an interview with Fox News on Monday that the US intelligence had failed to provide “conclusive evidence” to Trump that Russia was behind the hacking of the Democratic Party’s computers during the presidential election.
“This report that everyone keeps talking about is not final,” Spicer told CNN. “The intelligence community is talking about wrapping it up later this week … the idea that we are jumping to conclusions before we have a final report is frankly irresponsible,” he said.
The outgoing US administration have nevertheless persisted in repeating the claims of hacking into US political institutions. In response to the unproven claims US authorities declared 35 Russian diplomats persona non grata and shut down two recreational compounds in New York and Maryland owned by the Russian government.
They have also instituted sanctions against several Russian companies, the Federal Security Service and the Main Intelligence Agency of Russia’s General Staff.
Moscow has denied any role in cyberattacks, while WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has said his organisation has proof that the Russian government was not involved in cybercrime against the US.
