Donald Trump immediately attacks U.S. intelligence community in first press conference in 6 months

(Image credit: DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images)

published 11 January 2017

Taking the stage for his first news conference since July, President-elect Donald Trump immediately addressed a controversial report released Tuesday night that claimed U.S. intelligence officials had received word that Russia possessed incriminating information on Trump. The dossier, which several news organizations said was full of unverified and unconfirmed — though bombastic — claims, was published by BuzzFeed News in full Tuesday night. Trump wasted no time in condemning the report, and criticized intelligence agencies for "maybe" releasing that "nonsense," which he said "should have never been written":

Incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer opened the press conference by slamming BuzzFeed as a "left-wing blog," and saying its public release of the dossier was "outrageous and frankly irresponsible." Trump in recent weeks has taken to doubting U.S. intelligence, and he was especially hesitant to accept the intelligence community's conclusions that Russian President Vladimir Putin had directed cyberattacks on the U.S. in order to help Trump win the presidential election.