Donald Trump apparently liked what he heard on Fox News last night. The president-elect referred to Sean Hannity's Tuesday night interview with WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange in a tweet Wednesday morning, praising the doubt Assange cast on whether Russia was the responsible party behind hacks during the election season:
Trump was immediately hit with criticism over the tweet. "I have a lot more faith in our intelligence officers … than I do in people like Julian Assange," Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said on MSNBC shortly afterward. Former CIA and Pentagon spokesman George Little tweeted his own two cents:
Former CIA operations officer Evan McMullin, who ran against Trump as an Independent in the presidential election, also shared his criticism following Hannity's interview Tuesday:
Assange had not even been especially vehement in his denial of Russia as the perpetrator. "On the top [of the FBI and Department of Homeland Security's Joint Analysis Report on Russian interference in the U.S. election], there is a disclaimer saying nothing — there is no guarantee that any of this information is accurate," he told Hannity on Tuesday. "It's a guess," Hannity asked, and Assange shook his head. "I used to be a computer security expert," Assange said. "What they have is what they call indicators. So, a way to recognize if these tools, these alleged Russian tools, have been used on your system."