Priebus says Trump accepts the Russian hacking report
President-elect Donald Trump now accepts the conclusion of the FBI, NSA, and CIA that the Russian government hacked Democratic targets in an attempt to influence the American presidential election, incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said Sunday.
Trump "is not denying that entities in Russia were behind this particular hacking campaign," Priebus said in an interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News. Priebus also reported that Trump has asked U.S. intelligence agencies for recommendations on how to respond to the hacks, and depending on their input, "actions may be taken."
Earlier this week, Trump still maintained his longstanding position that allegations of Russian election meddling — especially successful interference — are a "political witch hunt" designed to detract from his victory. President Obama already retaliated against Russia with a package of sanctions.
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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