Hint at hacking before Putin meet
Trump says Russia likely hacked election but other nations may also have been involved
On the eve of his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump questioned the veracity of American intelligence about foreign meddling in the US election, arguing on Thursday that Russia wasn’t the only country that may have interfered.
“Nobody really knows for sure,” Mr Trump said.
Opening his second overseas trip as President, Mr Trump warned North Korea that he’s considering “some pretty severe things” in response to the isolated nation’s unprecedented launch of a missile capable of reaching the US. Though he declined to offer specifics on the US response, Mr Trump called on all nations to confront the North’s “very, very bad behaviour.”
As US investigations into Russia’s meddling forge ahead, Mr Trump is under intense scrutiny for how he handles his first face- toface session with Mr Putin. US intelligence officials say the unpredictable Russia leader ordered interference into the 2016 election that brought Mr Trump to the White House.
Mr Trump and Mr Putin plan to sit down on Friday in Hamburg, Germany, on the sidelines of the G20 summit.
Loathe to cast a shadow on his election victory, Mr Trump has avoided firmly blaming Moscow for campaign hacking in the past, and on Thursday, he was similarly elusive. He argued variably that it could have been Russia, probably was Russia and indeed was Russia, while insisting it could have been other countries, too, and adding, “I won’t be specific.”
“A lot of people interfere. It’s been happening for a long time,” Mr Trump said in Poland. Asked specifically whether he planned to discuss the issue with Mr Putin, Mr Trump demurred.
The President sought to redirect scrutiny toward his predecessor, Barack Obama, accusing him of allowing Moscow to meddle on his watch. Though the Obama administration warned Russia publicly and privately before election day to stop interfering, questions have since been raised about whether he acted aggressively enough to stop the threat.
“They say he choked. Well, I don’t think he choked,” Mr Trump said. “I think he thought Hillary Clinton was going to win the election, and he said, ‘ Let’s not do anything about it.’” Using information collected by the FBI, CIA and NSA, the US national intelligence director last year concluded that Moscow was behind the hack of Democratic Party email systems and attempted to influence the 2016 election to benefit Mr Trump. The Obama administration said the effort was directed from the “highest levels” of Russia’s government, a reference to Mr Putin.
Mr Trump said the CIA had informed Obama about the hacking months before the election but added that “mistakes have been made.” Though Mr Trump has made similar statements before, it was an extraordinary public expression of doubt about US intelligence capabilities by a President while standing on foreign soil.
In his first public comments since North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile this week, Mr Trump declined to offer specifics about what a US response might entail, though he called it a “threat” and said the US would “confront it very strongly.” Mr Trump said it wasn’t certain he’d follow through on the severe steps he was weighing, adding that he does “not draw red lines.”
“It’s a shame that they’re behaving this way,” Mr Trump said of North Korea’s leaders. “But they are behaving in a very, very dangerous manner, and something will have to be done about it.”
He used part of a joint conference with President Andrzej Duda to attack several US news organisations for their coverage of his presidency, eliciting sympathy from Duda, who suggested that he, too, was covered unfairly.
Nobody really knows for sure. I won’t be specific ... A lot of people interfere. It’s been happening for a long time — Donald Trump, US President