Trump slams U.S. intelligence, promises hacking report from his 'people'

Donald Trump speaks at his first press conference in over five months.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

last updated 13 January 2017

Without pausing for a "good morning," President-elect Donald Trump spent the 6 a.m. hour of Friday morning disparaging the U.S. intelligence community — again.

Trump had admitted at his press conference Wednesday that "as far as hacking, I think it was Russia. Hacking's bad, and it shouldn't be done." But by Friday, intelligence had once again become a skeptical "intelligence" in his tweets and Trump vowed that "my people" will have a "full report on the hacking within 90 days" despite the fact that the conclusions of an already-written full report found the NSA, the FBI, and the CIA in agreement:

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Although not technically a "hacking," Trump might have been referring to a leaked, classified, and unverified intelligence dossier that alleges he both colluded with Russia, and that Russia is in possession of compromising material they can use to blackmail the incoming president. While the information in the report evidently had enough credibility for top U.S. intelligence officials to brief Trump and President Barack Obama on it, Trump has slammed the allegations as "fake news" and the Kremlin has called the memos a "ridiculous thing" that "does not contain any proofs, any evidence."

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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