President Trump was told by top U.S. intelligence officials before his inauguration that Russian President Vladimir Putin was personally involved in ordering cyberattacks designed to influence the 2016 election, according to a report Thursday.
Trump was shown highly classified intelligence, including emails and text messages from Russian military officers and information from a human source close to Putin, regarding the election interference operations, per the New York Times.
Trump seemed convinced, people in the briefing told the newspaper.
But since then Trump has equivocated on whether he agrees with assessments from his own intelligence community that Russia meddled in the election that won him the White House.
Trump provoked bipartisan outcry on Monday when he appeared to accept Putin’s denial of a Kremlin-linked effort to undermine the U.S. political process in 2016 rather than trust U.S. intelligence during a press conference held at the conclusion of the leaders’ talks in Helsinki.
Trump attempted to walk back his comments on Tuesday, saying he misspoke when he claimed he did not see why Russia would have interfered in 2016.
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Trump shown evidence of Putin's involvement in election interference before inauguration: Report https://t.co/JMOyEpX1rM
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) July 19, 2018
On Jan. 5, 2017, Trump asks in a tweet why the FBI didn't examine the DNC server, alluding to a conspiracy theory that Russia didn't do it. The next day, he gets a classified briefing that they did do it.
This week, he repeated the server line. https://t.co/nqMlX7Nfko
— ryan teague beckwith (@ryanbeckwith) July 19, 2018
This is a huge deal. If the President knew all this even before he was inaugurated, it changes the complexion of the positions he and his staff have taken all this time. https://t.co/nsZgjtNY9z
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) July 19, 2018
GOP House and Senate members better start deciding pretty dam quick about what side of history they want to be on. The doors are closing, but it's not too late.
— Casey Nikoloric (@Ten10Group) July 19, 2018
The IC told Trump the full TS/SCI deal about Russian IW against our election BEFORE his inauguration. Then POTUS attacked the IC nonstop. And lied nonstop too.
I'm looking for a word here that isn't "conspiracy" but I'm not finding it.
PS Trump is done.https://t.co/uMDOwTub74
— John Schindler (@20committee) July 19, 2018
As a rule, Congress does not get this kind of information. https://t.co/BXK0vKBLGG
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) July 19, 2018
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper confirms that Donald Trump was briefed on US intelligence findings that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally ordered cyberattacks to attempt to sway the 2016 presidential election https://t.co/9PUjUVCMtj
— CNN (@CNN) July 19, 2018
I hope Robert Mueller is on this.
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