Top adviser says Trump is an 'expert' in 'weaving around' the issues

James Woolsey.
(Image credit: Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images)

James Woolsey, a former CIA director and an adviser to Donald Trump on national security issues, said Monday that he believes the Russians participated in election-related hacking, and it's quite likely others were involved, too.

"It's often not foolproof to say who it is because it is possible and sometimes easy to hide your tracks," he told CNN's Jim Sciutto. "There's lots of tricks." Despite intelligence agencies saying that Russia is responsible for the politically damaging hacking against Democrats, Trump and many of his aides have cast doubt on that consensus, and when Sciutto asked Woolsey if Trump is playing the media with his comments on culpability, the former CIA chief said maybe, adding that Trump is an "expert in weaving around" on issues. "Sometimes people may have been talking to somebody in the National Security Agency and have an idea that maybe it was one type of hacking rather than another."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.