New York Daily News

Prez knew of Vlad hack OK before inaugurati­on

- BY NICOLE HENSLEY

President Trump has known his Russian counterpar­t had pulled the trigger on the Kremlin election meddling plot since before he was sworn into office, according to a report Wednesday.

Two weeks before his inaugurati­on, Trump was handed classified documents indicating President Vladimir Putin ordered the massive hack job that cast doubt on his victory, The New York Times reported .

For those who attended the Jan. 6 intelligen­ce briefing at Trump Tower, the Presidente­lect appeared to be convinced and made no attempt to dispute the findings, the newspaper wrote. The 19 months that followed the disclosure suggests otherwise.

Nearly a dozen people reportedly attended the meeting, including President Barack Obama-appointees FBI Director James Comey, CIA Director John Brennan, Director of National Intelligen­ce James Clapper and NSA Director Adm. Michael Rogers.

Trump emerged from his Midtown pad after the meeting blaming a number of countries for the hack, rather than just Russia or Putin, and that it had no effect on the election.

Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on Putin's role in the Democratic National Convention email hacking – and denied his campaign colluded with the foreign power.

Earlier this week, Trump bounced from believing Putin that Russian had nothing to do with election interferen­ce – a contentiou­s remark made alongside his global rival – to saying on Wednesday he would hold the leader accountabl­e. But only as the head of his country.

An aide close to Trump says he has avoided outright pinning the blame on Putin out of fear the legitimacy of his White House victory would be questioned, The Times reported.

The documents shown to Trump included stolen DNC emails discovered in Russian military intelligen­ce circles.

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