President-elect Donald Trump, once again, downplayed Russia’s involvement in election-related cyber hacking and has taken to Twitter to promote comments WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange made on Fox News’ “Hannity” on Tuesday night.
President Obama, CIA Director John Brennan, FBI Director James Comey and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper all agreed that the Russian government interfered with the election. But Trump — not so much.
Julian Assange said "a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta" – why was DNC so careless? Also said Russians did not give him the info!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017
Trump appears to believe Assange’s claim that Russia was not his source for the hacked DNC and John Podesta emails that many have credited with influencing the presidential election. This is despite the fact that U.S. intelligence members claim that the Russians were behind the cyber security breech.
“We have said, repeatedly that over the last two months that our source is not the Russian government and it is not a state party,” Assange told Sean Hannity. The president-elect spent Wednesday morning firing off a series of tweets related to the interview.
"@FoxNews: Julian Assange on U.S. media coverage: “It’s very dishonest.” #Hannity pic.twitter.com/ADcPRQifH9" More dishonest than anyone knows
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017
Somebody hacked the DNC but why did they not have "hacking defense" like the RNC has and why have they not responded to the terrible……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017
things they did and said (like giving the questions to the debate to H). A total double standard! Media, as usual, gave them a pass.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017
Assange said the U.S. “does not have the evidence” that WikiLeaks is involved with Russia.
Ex Pentagon and CIA spokesman George Little, who served under former President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama, denounced Trump’s apparent support of the Wikileaks mastermind, saying on Twitter that “we will be less safe” once the president-elect takes office.
Let's stare this reality square in the face: PEOTUS is pro-Putin and believes Julian Assange over the @CIA. On Jan. 20 we will be less safe. https://t.co/3qhDLjuGMk
— George Little (@georgelittledc) January 4, 2017
Meanwhile, President Obama clearly believes his own intelligence, as he took action against Russia for the alleged hacking just days ago.
Obama ordered the removal of 35 Russian intelligence officials from the U.S. and announced an executive order sanctioning nine Russian entities and individuals, including two Russian intelligence services, four individual Russian intelligence officers and three companies that provided material support for the country’s cyber operations.
The president has also ordered the State Department to shut down two Russian intelligence-gathering compounds in Maryland and New York. Obama previously vowed to retaliate against Russia for interfering the election in what U.S. intelligence agencies characterized as an attempt to help Trump win the White House.
“I think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections, that we need to take action. And we will,” Obama promised in an interview with NPR in mid December.
Assange, who didn’t think Trump would defeat Clinton, explained that if the emails did hurt her campaign, it’s not WikiLeaks’ fault.
“Did it (WikiLeaks) change the outcome of the election? Who knows, it’s impossible to tell,” said Assange. “But if it did, the accusation is that the true statements of Hillary Clinton and her campaign manager, John Podesta, and the DNC head Debbie Wasserman Schultz — their true statements is what changed the election.”