NEW YORK (AA) – President-elect Donald Trump asserted Friday that cyber-spying during the recent election had no effect on the outcome.
“While Russia, China, other countries, outside groups and people are consistently trying to break through the cyber infrastructure of our governmental institutions, businesses and organizations including the Democrat National Committee, there was absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election including the fact that there was no tampering whatsoever with voting machines,” Trump said in a statement by his transition team, after his “constructive” meeting with leaders of the intelligence community.
They are the same intelligence officials who have publicly accused Moscow of conducting cyber-spying to influence the election.
Trump not ruling out Russia as a potential culprit is a break from his recent statements. After the Barack Obama administration announced sanctions last week against Moscow, the president-elect called on the U.S. to “move on”.
He later called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “very smart man” for not retaliating.
In a declassified report published Friday, the U.S. intelligence community stated once again unequivocally that Putin personally ordered an effort to influence the election results in Trump’s favor.
The hacking of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) as well as Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta revealed unsavory details about how the supposedly neutral organization conspired to favor Clinton against an extremely popular Bernie Sanders to win the Democratic Party’s nomination for president.
Cyber-security has been one of the defining themes and the Achilles’ heel for the Clinton campaign.
Regular leaks of DNC and Clinton emails in the months leading up to the Nov. 8 polls cemented a popular narrative that first female presidential nominee of a major party was not trustworthy.
