President-elect Donald Trump was on a collision course with US spy chiefs today as they prepared to brief him on allegations of Russian hacking he has branded a “political witch hunt.”
US intelligence believes that the Kremlin directly interfered in the run-up to November’s presidential election by breaking into the servers of Trump’s Democratic rivals. The nation’s top intelligence officers were to brief Trump on Friday on the claims, but there was no sign the incoming Republican leader was ready to drop his skepticism.
In fact, just hours before the politically-charged classified briefing, the brash billionaire gave a telephone interview with the New York Times alleging an attempt to undermine him.
“This is a political witch hunt,” he told the paper, noting that his outgoing predecessor President Barack Obama had presided over several cyber-security failures. Trump has consistently mocked or cast doubt on reports backed by leaked evidence from secret investigations that Vladimir Putin personally sought to sway the election in his favor over rival Hillary Clinton.
Clinton’s Democratic supporters, and a significant number of Trump’s fellow Republicans in Congress, have expressed dismay that he would side with Russia over US intelligence.