Donald Trump points to Russian-aligned Wikileaks to counter the U.S. intelligence community’s analysis that Russia helped him win the election.
WASHINGTON ― In a dispute between Russian intelligence services and the U.S. intelligence community, the next president of the United States appears to be coming down squarely on the side of the Russians.
In a series of five tweets over 12 hours late Tuesday and early Wednesday, Donald Trump continued his attacks on the U.S. analysis that the Russians helped him win the White House ― this time quoting the founder of the Russian-aligned Wikileaks group that worked to undermine Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by publishing a series of stolen emails.
“Julian Assange said ‘a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta’ - why was DNC so careless? Also said Russians did not give him the info!” Trump tweeted at 7:22 a.m. Wednesday, referring to emails stolen from the account of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.
Trump spokesman Sean Spicer tried to downplay the significance of his boss quoting Assange as a credible source. “He’s just stating what Assange has stated publicly,” Spicer said during a Wednesday conference call with reporters.
But Trump did not merely note what Assange said, but actively suggested that Assange should be believed. In a tweet a half-hour later, Trump described media coverage about the issue as “more dishonest than anyone knows.”
And Tuesday night, Trump wrote: “The ‘Intelligence’ briefing on so-called ‘Russian hacking’ was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!” ― thereby casting aspersions on the U.S. intelligence agencies that have been investigating Russia’s actions for months.
More: Next American President Siding With Russian Intelligence
It seems treasonous to side with Russian intelligence over American intelligence. By denying American intelligence, maybe Trump thinks that helps protect him from appearing to be an "illegitimate" president by having a hostile foreign government help him defeat Hillary. One would think that American patriots on both sides of the political spectrum would have a problem with this.
WASHINGTON ― In a dispute between Russian intelligence services and the U.S. intelligence community, the next president of the United States appears to be coming down squarely on the side of the Russians.
In a series of five tweets over 12 hours late Tuesday and early Wednesday, Donald Trump continued his attacks on the U.S. analysis that the Russians helped him win the White House ― this time quoting the founder of the Russian-aligned Wikileaks group that worked to undermine Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by publishing a series of stolen emails.
“Julian Assange said ‘a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta’ - why was DNC so careless? Also said Russians did not give him the info!” Trump tweeted at 7:22 a.m. Wednesday, referring to emails stolen from the account of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.
Trump spokesman Sean Spicer tried to downplay the significance of his boss quoting Assange as a credible source. “He’s just stating what Assange has stated publicly,” Spicer said during a Wednesday conference call with reporters.
But Trump did not merely note what Assange said, but actively suggested that Assange should be believed. In a tweet a half-hour later, Trump described media coverage about the issue as “more dishonest than anyone knows.”
And Tuesday night, Trump wrote: “The ‘Intelligence’ briefing on so-called ‘Russian hacking’ was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!” ― thereby casting aspersions on the U.S. intelligence agencies that have been investigating Russia’s actions for months.
More: Next American President Siding With Russian Intelligence
It seems treasonous to side with Russian intelligence over American intelligence. By denying American intelligence, maybe Trump thinks that helps protect him from appearing to be an "illegitimate" president by having a hostile foreign government help him defeat Hillary. One would think that American patriots on both sides of the political spectrum would have a problem with this.
