P22 White House, Trump Team Clash Over Alleged Hacking
Washington: The White House on Thursday clashed with Presidentelect Donald Trump’s transition team over alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.
“It is just a fact that the Republican nominee for president was encouraging Russia to hack his opponent because he believed it would help his campaign,” White House spokesperson Josh Earnest said during the daily briefing. The remarks came one day after Mr Earnest suggested on Wednesday’s briefing that Mr Trump was aware before Election Day that Russia was involved and “their involvement was having a negative impact on his opponent’s campaign.” Senior Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway on Thursday took a shot at Mr Earnest, calling his remarks on Wednesday “incredibly irresponsible.”
“He essentially stated that the president-elect had knowledge of this (hacking), maybe even fanned the flames,” said Ms Conway in an interview with Fox News.
“It’s incredibly irresponsible and I wonder if his boss, President Obama agrees.” During his campaign, Mr Trump at one of his news conferences in July did encourage the Russians to hack his rival Democrat Hillary Clinton’s email system and reveal the contents.
“I will tell you this, Russia: if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” said Mr Trump, referring to half of the emails deleted from Ms Clinton’s private email server because they were claimed by Ms Clinton as containing private information. The Trump team later characterised that remark as a joke. Xinhua