President-elect Donald Trump appears to think WikiLeaks‘ founder Julian Assange is right on the money. The U.S. intelligence community? Not so much.
In a series of tweets posted Wednesday morning, Trump repeated Assange’s assertion that neither Russia’s government nor any other state actor provided WikiLeaks with emails stolen from the Democratic Party or Democratic operatives.
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017
Assange appeared in an hour-long interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Tuesday night.
Trump’s tweet comes just hours after the incoming president of the United States mocked the U.S. intelligence community—which believes that Russian government-led hackers breached the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign manager John Podesta—for allegedly delaying a briefing with Trump on the matter.
The "Intelligence" briefing on so-called "Russian hacking" was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017
Trump has consistently questioned Russia’s alleged involvement in the cyberattacks and subsequent leaks of tens of thousands of emails.
Soon after Trump’s tweet about the intelligence briefing, NBC News reporter Peter Alexander reported that senior U.S. intelligence officials said the briefing was always scheduled for Friday, not earlier in the week as Trump’s tweet claims.
Sr US intel official tells @NBCNews that heads of NSA, CIA, FBI & DNI are scheduled to brief Trump Friday, as was always the plan. https://t.co/k0IFbe2SUw
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) January 4, 2017
Assange has consistently claimed that Russian government operatives are not WikiLeaks source for the stolen Democratic emails. However, it remains unclear how WikiLeaks obtained the documents or if WikiLeaks’ source could have obtained the documents from the Russian government. Assange has also not denied Russia’s alleged involvement in hacking the Democrats. WikiLeaks has not responded to the Daily Dot’s requests for clarification on these details.
In later tweets, Trump repeated the claims of some U.S. officials who say the Republican National Committee avoided the same fate as its Democratic counterpart by employing better security measures.
Somebody hacked the DNC but why did they not have "hacking defense" like the RNC has and why have they not responded to the terrible……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017
things they did and said (like giving the questions to the debate to H). A total double standard! Media, as usual, gave them a pass.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017
Trump won the election on Nov. 8. He will be sworn in as the 45th president of the United States on Jan. 20.