Trump on Russian hacking: ‘I don’t believe it’

Is there anyone in American politics more lacking in political integrity than Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell?

Trump declined to confirm who he will name secretary of state, but lavished praise on his expected pick, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, calling him a “world-class player” and even alluding to Tillerson’s ties to Russian Federation, which are a source of concern for hawkish Republicans on Capitol Hill. The Senate Intelligence Committee is “more than capable of conducting a complete review”, he said on Monday, according to The Hill.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Monday strongly condemned any foreign interference with USA elections and announced that the Senate intelligence panel will investigate Russia’s suspected election interference. “I don’t believe it”, he said.

Former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray called the CIA claims a “blatant lie” and the Post story “paranoid nonsense”, pointing out that, if the U.S. intelligence knew the identity of the hackers, Washington would have arrested them or demanded their extradition.

US intelligence agencies have told Congress and the administration of President Barack Obama that Russian Federation has grown increasingly aggressive in Syria and Ukraine and has stepped up activities in cyberspace including meddling, sometimes covertly, in European and USA elections. First of all, Trump felt the need to say that he’s “like, a smart person”.

Ideally, a president concludes that the need to protect sensitive sources and methods outweighs the need to silence skeptics, said James Lewis, a senior vice president and program director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. If the Washington Cartel is so concerned about the integrity of our elections perhaps it’s time they get together and implement a national voter ID law so that our elections really are protected! In an interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation”, McCain said, “That would color his approach to Vladimir Putin and the Russian threat”.

Displaying rare bipartisanship, four leading senators from both political parties on Sunday called for an urgent inquiry into allegations of Russian meddling in the recent election. Their open opposition to Trump over the hacking allegations underscores how Russian Federation and Putin himself are becoming a wedge issue between Trump and leading legislators of his own party. Kelly is a former commander of U.S. Southern Command.

And Trump acknowledged that even as president-elect he’s still taking business meetings and calls during the transition period – though he said he’s turning deals down. He trails Democrat Hillary Clinton in the popular vote by 2.8 million votes, and while he posted a comfortable Electoral College win, by historical standards it ranks towards the bottom of victory margins (46th out of 58 presidential contests). In an interview on Fox News that was taped Saturday and aired Sunday, he was asked about reports that he is getting the presidential daily intelligence briefing only about once a week rather than every day.

Mr Bolton, who was one of the Bush administration’s most vocal advocates for the Iraq War, told the network: “It is not at all clear to me, just viewing this from the outside, that this hacking into the DNC and the RNC computers was not a false flag operation”. And frankly, I think they’re putting it out.

“Each day that month, our campaign decried the interference of Russian Federation in our campaign and its evident goal of hurting our campaign to aid Donald Trump”, he continued.

“Any foreign breach of our cybersecurity measures is disturbing and I strongly condemn any such efforts”, McConnell said Monday during a press conference at the Capitol.

Trump asserted that it is very hard to determine who is responsible for a hack, unless they are caught ‘red-handed’.

Trump’s decision-making on whom to select for secretary of state has stretched out over several weeks. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, No. 3 House GOP leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, another GOP presidential contender whom Trump defeated.

In the television interview, Trump pointed to Tillerson’s deep relations with Moscow as a selling point. The selection of Tillerson raised eyebrows because of the CEO’s close ties to Putin. He does massive deals in Russian Federation. They have no idea if it’s Russian Federation or China or somebody.