After the U.S. intelligence agencies issued a public report on Thursday detailing the ways that Russia acted to influence the American election through cyber espionage, and President Obama announced sanctions against Russia, Putin pal Donald Trump praised Putin’s response to sanctions, calls Russian leader ‘very smart!’:
Late Friday, Trump again took to his Twitter account to critique how the media has been covering the issue.
Trump’s comments and his handling of the Russian hacking allegations could embolden foreign hackers and undermine the U.S. government’s ability to respond to them, analysts say. Trump’s doubts about cybersecurity alarm experts.
Trump’s praise for Putin was followed on Saturday with this bizarre claim: Trump Promises a Revelation on Hacking:
President-elect Donald J. Trump, expressing lingering skepticism about intelligence assessments of Russian interference in the election, said on Saturday evening that he knew “things that other people don’t know” about the hacking, and that the information would be revealed “on Tuesday or Wednesday.”
He added: “And I know a lot about hacking. And hacking is a very hard thing to prove. So it could be somebody else. And I also know things that other people don’t know, and so they cannot be sure of the situation.”
When asked what he knew that others did not, Mr. Trump demurred, saying only, “You’ll find out on Tuesday or Wednesday.”