On Monday, White House spokesperson Josh Earnest addressed Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election and suggested the nefarious activity gave President-elect Donald Trump an advantage.
On Monday, White House spokesperson Josh Earnest addressed Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election and suggested the nefarious activity gave President-elect Donald Trump an advantage, reports CNN.
Earnest reminded reporters that when news of the hacks emerged ahead of the election, “The president-elect didn’t call it into question. He called on Russia to hack his opponent...He certainly had a pretty good sense of whose side this activity was coming down on.”
Earnest continued, “The last several weeks of the election were focused on a discussion of emails that had been hacked and leaked by the Russians. These were emails from the DNC and John Podesta, not from the RNC and Steve Bannon.”
He also urged Congress to move forward with an investigation into Russia’s involvement in the U.S. election.
The Washington Post reported on Friday, "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."
