ABC News(NEW YORK) — Adviser Kellyanne Conway Monday sought to clarify Donald Trump’s rejection of claims that Russia had sought to tip the balance in the U.S. presidential election by saying that “the president-elect doesn’t want interference into our politics,” and that he also doesn’t want “politics to interfere with our intelligence.”
Conway also suggested on Good Morning America that the Democrats had attempted to “politicize” the allegations of Russian interference to obscure the fact that Hillary Clinton and her party had failed to win over voters who proved to be critical in pushing Trump to victory.
She referenced the letter FBI Director James Comey issued in late-October that announced an additional review in connection to Clinton’s private email server, as well as the election recount efforts spearheaded by Green Party candidate Jill Stein, as other examples of politicians’ seeking to delegitimize Trump’s Electoral College victory.
“How about it was just Hillary Clinton and the message?” Conway, Trump’s former campaign manager, said Monday morning.
Trump’s transition team has been pushing back against media reports that the CIA has evidence showing the Russian government interfered with the 2016 presidential election in an attempt to sway the race for Trump.
“These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction,” the Trump transition team said in a Friday statement, referring to the now-refuted claims that ultimately led the Bush administration to pursue war in Iraq.
“The [2016] election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It’s now time to move on and ‘Make America Great Again.’”
U.S. officials familiar with the intelligence confirmed to ABC News that Russians hacked the computer systems of both Republicans and Democrats but leaked information only from Democrats’ accounts. But intelligence officials told ABC News that is not enough to prove the possible motivations of the Russians, who deny the allegations.
Conway Monday attempted to reassure the public that Trump had no disrespect for America’s intelligence community.
“He respects the intelligence community,” she said, referring to Trump’s perceived dismissal of the CIA intelligence.
Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary to Russian President Vladimir Putin, categorized the assessments of the CIA as being “unfounded and unprofessional.”
Peskov said the CIA’s suggestion that Russia attempted to tip the balance of the elections has “nothing to do with reality.”
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