Trump team says ‘move on,’ after Obama calls for cyber-hacking probe

December 10, 2021 By Politics

Donald Trump’s presidential transition team late Friday criticized President Obama’s order for a full-scale review of campaign-season cyber-attacks allegedly linked to Russia, saying it’s “time to move on.”

Trump has been repeatedly dismissive of the intelligence community’s determination that Russia sought through hacking to disrupt the U.S. election, which Trump, a Republican won in stunning upset over Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

“The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It’s now time to move on and `Make America Great Again,’ ” the transition team said. “These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.”

The investigation ordered by Obama will be a “deep dive” into a possible pattern of increased “malicious cyber activity” timed to the campaign season, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said Friday.

On Saturday, New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, the next Senate minority leader, called for the Republican-led Congress to address the issue.

“Reports of the CIA’s conclusion that Russia actively sought to help elect Donald Trump are simultaneously stunning and not surprising, given Russia’s disdain for democracy and admiration for autocracy,” Schumer said. “Senate Democrats will join with our Republican colleagues next year to demand a congressional investigation and hearings to get to the bottom of this.”

The administration probe will include looking into the email hacks that rattled the presidential campaign. It also will look at the tactics, targets, key actors and the U.S. government’s response to the hacks, as well as incidents reported in past elections,.

The president ordered the report earlier in the week and asked that it be completed before he leaves office next month, Schultz said.

The Washington Post reported Friday that the CIA has concluded that Russia aimed specifically to help Trump win the presidency.

The Kremlin has rejected the hacking accusations.

In the months leading up to the election, email accounts of Democratic Party officials and a top Hillary Clinton campaign aide were breached, emails leaked and embarrassing and private emails posted online. Many Democrats believe the hackings benefited Trump’s bid.

Schultz said the president sought the probe as a way of improving U.S. defense against cyberattacks and was not intending to question the legitimacy of Trump’s victory.

Obama’s move comes as Democratic lawmakers have been pushing Obama to declassify more information about Russia’s role, fearing that Trump, who has promised a warmer relationship with Moscow, may not prioritize the issue.

The White House said it would make parts of the report public and would brief lawmakers and relevant state officials on the findings.

It emphasized the report would not focus solely on Russian operations or email hacks involving Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta and Democratic National Committee accounts. The emails were made public by WikiLeaks.

Schultz said intelligence officials would be reviewing incidents going back to the 2008 presidential campaign, when the campaigns of Sen. John McCain and Obama were breached by hackers.

The intelligence community has already concluded that Russia-backed actors likely were involved in breaching and releasing the Democratic Party emails.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has denied the Russian government or any other “state parties” were the source for the 50,000 emails, which fueled weeks of embarrassing coverage for the Clinton campaign detailing behind-the-scenes discussions and arguments among advisers and family members.

Many Democrats believe the disclosures in emails stolen from Democratic Party officials and Podesta’s account benefited Trump. 

Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway told “Fox & Friends” on Friday that Democrats “won’t learn the lessons” from the 2016 race.

“A little self-awareness would do for a team that is blaming everybody but themselves for this. It’s Bernie Sanders’ fault … It’s the alt-right’s fault,” she said. “It’s … fake news’ fault. It’s Russian interference. It’s James Comey. … How about you had no message?”

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  • DrArtaud

    My Comment on a similar topic on Weasel Zippers:

    Watch this video. John Kirby, spokesperson for U.S. State Department, bumbling to respond to a Russian journalist from RT (Russia Today). Not only does he appear to be a blithering idiot, he’s a liar. The U.S. accuses Russia of targeting civilian infrastructure in Syria (remember the U.S. in Serbia bombed bridges and power plants, but hey, do as we say, not as we do), including hospitals, but refuses to give proof.

    WHOA! EMBARRASSING! US State Dept Reps Caught in Obvious Lie

    So, allegations, no proof, insults against the journalist that challenged him, in other words, the usual.

    So, then we have this:

    The CIA has concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency, rather than just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system, according to officials briefed on the matter.

    Intelligence agencies have identified individuals with connections to the Russian government who provided WikiLeaks with thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and others, including Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, according to U.S. officials. Those officials described the individuals as actors known to the intelligence community and part of a wider Russian operation to boost Trump and hurt Clinton’s chances.

    It’s the same thing, allegations, no proof.

    1. Notice they don’t deny the veracity of the DNC documents. It’s like hacking someone and proving they’re molesting children, then blaming the hackers for discovering it and not the molesters for doing it.

    2. Notice no names of the U.S. personnel involved are given, a sure sign of “Fake News” from WaPo.

    3. CIA, secret assessment, but WaPo has it? Is the CIA that incompetent?

    It’s a Secret

    4. Before the election, when Trump suggested the election was rigged, he was ridiculed. Upon a clinton loss, the democrats are crying the election was rigged, and now we’re supposed to take it seriously? And in Michigan, it appears that someone tried to rig the election for hillary but it didn’t consider Trump’s massive popularity.

    These are indeed strange times.