Trump: Dems pushing Russian hacking to explain loss
The goal was to "undermine
public faith in the U.S. democratic process" and hurt Hillary Clinton's
chance of becoming president. Video provided by Newsy Newslook
President-elect Donald Trump officially
nominated a new director of national intelligence Saturday while continuing to
emphasize claims that Russian interference in last year's presidential election
did not affect the outcome. "Intelligence
stated very strongly there was absolutely no evidence that hacking affected the
election results," Trump tweeted a day after receiving a briefing from U.S.
intelligence officials. "Voting machines not touched!"
Trump also confirmed he is
nominating Dan Coats to be his new director of national intelligence,
saying the retired Indiana senator "has clearly demonstrated the deep
subject matter expertise and sound judgment required to lead our intelligence
community."
If confirmed by his former colleagues in the Senate, Coats
"will provide unwavering leadership that the entire intelligence community
can respect, and will spearhead my administration’s ceaseless vigilance against
those who seek to do us harm," Trump said. In accepting the nomination,
Coats said "a robust and responsible intelligence infrastructure is
essential to our homeland security."
As the Coats announcement
went out, Trump tweeted about the newly released intelligence report that the
Russians — including President Vladimir Putin — tried to sway
the American election by hacking Democrats close to presidential nominee Hillary
Clinton.
In one tweet, the president-elect
suggested Democrats were pushing the Russia story to explain away their
loss. "Only reason the hacking of the poorly defended DNC is
discussed is that the loss by the Dems was so big that they are totally
embarrassed!" Trump said. Clinton won the popular vote overall, but Trump
won more states and captured the Electoral College. Coats would replace current
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, one of the officials who
briefed the president-elect Friday afternoon at Trump Tower.
Trump still questions intelligence on Russia hacking after briefing
In statements after that
briefing, Trump suggested the Russians could have been involved in hacking the
Democrats, but did not fully embrace the intelligence community's conclusions
about a Russian plot to influence the election. Claiming that Russia, China,
and other countries and groups are trying to cyberattack the United States
— "including the Democratic National Committee" — Trump
said in a written statement that "there was absolutely no effect on the
outcome of the election including the fact that there was no tampering
whatsoever with voting machines."
Putin ordered hacking to help Trump, intelligence report says
He added, "there were
attempts to hack the Republican National Committee, but the RNC had strong
hacking defenses and the hackers were unsuccessful." While he has
criticized aspects of the Russia investigation, Trump said in his statement
that "I have tremendous respect for the work and service done by the men
and women of this (intelligence) community to our great nation."
Trump also vowed new plans to
counter cyberattacks once he takes office Jan. 20.
Saying all Americans need to
"aggressively combat and stop cyberattacks," Trump pledged to appoint
a team to develop a new defense plan. "The methods, tools and tactics we
use to keep America safe should not be a public discussion that will benefit
those who seek to do us harm," the president-elect said. "Two weeks
from today I will take the oath of office and America’s safety and security will
be my number one priority.”
1 comment
good news
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