10 things you need to know today: January 12, 2017

Trump criticizes intelligence agencies over a salacious report, the Senate moves toward ObamaCare repeal, and more

Donald Trump speaks at a press conference at Trump Tower
(Image credit: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images)

1. Trump slams intelligence agencies, press over salacious report

President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday refuted an uncorroborated report that Russia had obtained salacious incriminating information about him. Speaking at his first news conference since July, Trump criticized intelligence agencies, saying they might have been the ones who leaked the information. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper later said he did not believe U.S. intelligence agents had anything to do with the leak, noting that the document containing the claims was put together by an independent source. Trump also slammed news outlets for reporting the details, refusing to call on a CNN correspondent and calling the cable network "fake news" for reporting on the salacious claims. Trump did, however, drop his rejection of intelligence agencies' conclusion that Russia had hacked his election opponents, saying, "As far as hacking, I think it was Russia."

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.