Washington – The White House is sharply criticizing President-elect Donald Trump for his response to allegations of Russian interference in the U.S. election.
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White House spokesman Josh Earnest says Trump should stop attacking the U.S. intelligence community. He says instead, Trump should be supporting the investigation into what occurred that President Barack Obama has ordered.
Trump’s transition team has complained that the White House has suggested Trump knew during the campaign that Russia was trying to interfere. But Earnest says its “obvious” Trump knew and that it’s a fact.
He’s also disputing Trump’s claim that he was joking when he encouraged Russia to find Hillary Clinton’s emails. Earnest says nobody in the White House, Congress or the intelligence community found it “funny” that a U.S. adversary was trying to “destabilize our democracy.”
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid says he believes Vladimir Putin was personally involved in efforts to intrude into the presidential election and help Donald Trump win the White House.
The Nevada Democrat said Thursday “the answer clearly is yes” when asked about the Russian president’s involvement. He adds that because Putin is a former KGB chief, his alleged actions should surprise no one.
Reid also criticized FBI Director James Comey for doing “nothing” to prevent Russia from hacking Democratic campaign documents while focusing on Hillary Clinton’s private email server.
Reid says Comey, who used to be a registered Republican, “became so partisan” that he should head the Republican National Committee.
Reid is retiring at the end of the year. He spoke at a Capitol event honoring a conservation project in Nevada.
This item has been corrected to reflect that Comey is no longer a registered Republican.
Trump tweeted Thursday morning that the Obama administration didn’t bring up Russian hacking of U.S. political sites until after Hillary Clinton lost the election.
Trump’s tweet said, “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?”
But on Oct. 7, the Obama administration bluntly accused Russia of hacking American political sites and email accounts in an effort to interfere with the upcoming presidential election.
The Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a statement accusing Russia of hacking the sites and accounts, including those of the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Democratic Party officials learned in late April that their systems were attacked after discovering malicious software on their computers.
“These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process. Such activity is not new to Moscow,” the two agencies said. “The Russians have used similar tactics and techniques across Europe and Eurasia, for example, to influence public opinion there. We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities.”
Thursday wasn’t the first time Trump got it wrong on the timing: On Dec. 12, he tweeted, “Unless you catch ‘hackers’ in the act, it is very hard to determine who was doing the hacking. Why wasn’t this brought up before election?”
this hacking if done by the Russians has nothing to do with Trump. Mr Obama and his white house staff should go after Russia not Trump. Put sanctions on Russia
A bunch of whining babies. Can’t wait to see them go. Their statement about a fact is as meaningful as a fairy tale. Their basic modus operandi is to lie, and to create false narratives, which taint the minds of the public when repeated often enough. Here is where the media is part of the problem.
Had Hillary used the State Department’s system it might not have been possible for Russia to so readily hack her and all those sensitive emails.Who’s fault is this? Is it Crooked Hillary?