Trump rails against ‘fake’ news
UNITED STATES: President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday angrily denounced unsubstantiated claims he had been caught in a compromising position in Russia and attacked US intelligence agencies over the leak of the information.
‘‘I think it was disgraceful, disgraceful that the intelligence agencies allowed any information that turned out to be so false and fake out there,’’ Trump told a chaotic news conference only days before he takes office.
Trump called the dossier that makes salacious claims about him ‘‘fake news’’ and ‘‘phony stuff’’.
‘‘I think it’s a disgrace ... That’s something that Nazi Germany would have done,’’ the Republican said.
The incoming president, in his first news conference since late July, firmly chided news organisations for publishing the material late Tuesday night.
But after weeks of scoffing at reports that Russians had interfered in the election, he conceded publicly for the first time that Russia was likely responsible for the hacking of the Democratic National Committee. ‘‘As far as hacking, I think it was Russia,’’ he said and quickly added that the United States is hacked by other countries as well, including China.
Trump’s extraordinary defence against the unsubstantiated intelligence report, just nine days before his inauguration, dominated a highly anticipated press conference in which he also announced a new Cabinet member, detailed his plans to disentangle himself from his sprawling global business empire, gave his outlook on the future of the ‘‘Obamacare’’ health care law and said he would soon nominate someone to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court.
‘‘I think it’s a disgrace that information would be let out. I saw the information, I read the information outside of that meeting,’’ he said, a reference to a classified briefing he received from intelligence leaders. ‘‘It’s all fake news, it’s phony stuff, it didn’t happen,’’ Trump said in a news conference that saw him repeatedly joust with reporters. ‘‘It was gotten by opponents of ours.’’
Asked about his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump boasted that it is an improvement over what he called America’s current ‘‘horrible relationship with Russia’’ and did not criticise the Russian leader for any interference in the election.
‘‘If Putin likes Donald Trump, guess what, folks, that’s called an asset not a liability. I don’t know if I’m going to get along with Vladimir Putin — I hope I do — but there’s a good chance I won’t.’’
Trump, Vice President-elect Mike Pence and incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer also denounced the report about Russia’s influence on Trump, and the incoming president said it never should have been released. He thanked some news organisations for showing restraint.
A US official confirmed intelligence officials had informed Trump last week about an unsubstantiated report that Russia had compromising personal and financial information about him. Trump and President Barack Obama were briefed on the intelligence community’s findings last week, the official said.
Some media outlets reported on the document late on Tuesday after BuzzFeed released the information in its raw state. Trump immediately denounced it on Twitter before his news conference as ‘‘fake news,’’ suggesting he was being persecuted for defeating other Republican presidential hopefuls and Democrat Hillary Clinton in the election.
The dossier contains unproven information about close coordination between Trump’s inner circle and Russians about hacking into Democratic accounts as well as unproven claims about unusual sexual activities by Trump among other suggestions attributed to anonymous sources. Most new organisations stopped short of publishing the material as they had not authenticated any of the claims. AP-Reuters