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

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."

A U.S. intelligence official told CNN that the United States has traced the hack to specific keyboards with Cyrillic characters, which were used to construct the malware code. While in the country of Georgia, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) promised that Congress will hold hearings on the cyber attacks when back in session later this month. "It's clear that Russia has attacked the United States of America," he said. "All of our intelligence agencies will affirm that that's been the case. We will work in the Congress to have stronger sanctions in order to prevent further attacks."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up