Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Trump tweets agreement with Assange
President-elect declares Russians didn’t give WikiLeaks founder stolen emails
WASHINGTON — Despite Donald Trump’s repeated calls for Americans to “move on” from Russia’s alleged cyberattacks during the 2016 presidential election, it won’t be so easy — partly because the president-elect refuses to move on.
Trump launched another barrage of mockery at U.S. spy agencies Wednesday and aligned himself with Julian Assange, the fugitive founder of WikiLeaks, which has published millions of stolen U.S. military, diplomatic and intelligence documents.
The unusual alliance emerged as Congress plans its first hearing Thursday on the alleged Russian election hacks and as U.S. intelligence officials scramble to craft a convincing case for the skeptical presidentelect and the public that Russian intelligence agencies interfered with the election by stealing and leaking emails to WikiLeaks and other websites.
On Friday, several top intelligence officials, including Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan and FBI Director James Comey, are scheduled to meet with Trump in New York City to explain why they’ve concluded that senior officials in the Kremlin, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, authorized the hacking operation.
“What he wants to hear from them is, ‘How does the raw intelligence justify the conclusion that is being presented,’ ” Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said.
The intelligence officials also will brief Trump on the broader review that President Barack Obama recently requested on suspected Russian and Chinese hacks during the 2008, 2012 and 2016 U.S. elections and what was learned from those intrusions, two U.S. officials said.
New details may emerge Thursday when several of America’s top spies — including Clapper and Adm. Michael Rogers, head of the National Security Agency — testify at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the alleged hacks, the first since the November election.
The committee chairman, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and many others in Congress are perplexed by Trump’s deriding of the intelligence and by his praise for Putin, who has denied any Russian interference in the U.S. election.
“This was done by the Russians and I hope by Friday Mr. Trump will come to that realization,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, RS.C., a member of the committee, told CNN.
Trump’s open disdain for U.S. intelligence judgments has grown in recent weeks after the CIA and others concluded Russian leaders orchestrated the release of thousands of stolen emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, John Podesta, to tip the election in Trump’s favor.
And he questioned the motives of top intelligence officials, complaining Tuesday on Twitter that his briefing “on so-called ‘Russian hacking’ was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!”
U.S. officials said the briefing had been scheduled to take advantage of the classified report prepared for Obama.
On Wednesday, Trump took to Twitter to praise Assange for denying that Russians had provided the stolen emails to WikiLeaks.
“Russians did not give him the info!” and “a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta,” Trump wrote, paraphrasing Assange.
Assange made the claim to Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview that aired Tuesday.
“Our source is not the Russian government and it is not a state party,” Assange told Hannity. Assange didn’t address whether Russian authorities conducted the original hacking.
Assange has lived in Ecuador’s embassy for more than four years, fleeing sexual assault accusations in Sweden.
The White House challenged Trump for aligning himself with a figure who many in the U.S. intelligence community consider a threat to national security.
“The president-elect will have to determine who he’s going to believe,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Wednesday. “On one hand you’ve got the Russians and the aforementioned Mr. Assange. On the other side, you’ve got the 17 intelligence agencies of the United States government (and) outside cyber experts that have taken a look at this situation.”
Last week, Obama ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian officials suspected of spying, plus other sanctions.
On Wednesday, the State Department said that all 35 Russians had left the country by Sunday.