iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — Since reports emerged last summer that the Democratic National Committee had been hacked, Donald Trump has questioned U.S. intelligence agencies’ assertions that Russia is behind the election meddling.
Here is what Trump has recently said (and tweeted), versus what the U.S. intelligence community — including the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence — has said on the matter:
On WikiLeaks’ Getting the Leaked Emails From Russia
TRUMP: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said on Fox News Jan. 3 that the Russian government was not its source for the hacked emails of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, John Podesta. The president-elect seemed to side with Assange, despite his tweeting Thursday that he “simply state[s] what he states.”
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
U.S. INTELLIGENCE: A joint statement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Office of the Director of the National Intelligence’s (DNI) in October stated, “The recent disclosures of alleged hacked e-mails on sites like DCLeaks.com and WikiLeaks and by the Guccifer 2.0 online persona are consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts.”
“These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process,” the statement added.
That Russia Is Behind the Hack
TRUMP: In an interview with Fox News that aired Dec. 11, Trump said of the intelligence community: “They have no idea if it’s Russia or China or somebody. It could be somebody sitting in a bed some place.”
Before his New Year’s Eve party at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida Saturday, Trump told reporters that he wanted U.S. intelligence to be “sure” that Russia was responsible for the interfering “because it’s a pretty serious charge.”
U.S. INTELLIGENCE: The October statement from the two agencies, DHS and DNI, concluded that the U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) is “confident” the Russian government directed the hacking.
U.S. and foreign intelligence officials told ABC News on Dec. 15 that Russian President Vladimir Putin was personally involved in the hacking of the DNC.
Forensic evidence pulled from the computers at the DNC pointed to Russian involvement, a cybersecurity expert told ABC News.
The Russians planted software in the DNC computers to send information back to Russia, according to Justin Harvey, a cybersecurity expert who works at Accenture.
“We saw the Cyrillic alphabet being used in the compiler, we saw the level of complexity of the malware is not your run-of-the-mail ransomware cybercriminal that perhaps sits in their mother’s basement, it was very much nation-state level, very complex code that was being utilized,” Harvey told ABC News last month. “It was an IP address that had been previously seen in other Russian-attributed attacks.”
On ‘Full Review’ of Hacking Report
The intelligence community completed its “full review” of Russia’s alleged cyberattacks during U.S. elections dating back to 2008, which was ordered by President Obama last month, and is expected to give a classified briefing on the report to President-elect Trump Friday.
Speaking to reporters on Dec. 31 at his Mar-a-Lago club before his New Year’s Eve bash, Trump hinted that he would receive an intelligence briefing on Tuesday or Wednesday on the hackings. He then tweeted Tuesday that the intelligence briefing “was delayed.”
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
But a source familiar with the matter told ABC News that the briefing had always been slated for Friday.
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