Reince Priebus, incoming chief of staff for Donald Trump, on Sunday morning said that Trump will not yet accept the CIA’s conclusion that Russian hacks into Democratic groups were an attempt to boost Trump to victory.
“I think he would accept the conclusion if these intelligence professionals would get together, put out a report, show the American people they’re actually on the same page, as opposed to third parties through The Washington Post,” Priebus said on “Fox News Sunday” when asked if Trump accepts the consensus of the intelligence community on the Russian hacks and their intent.
Fox’s Chris Wallace brought up a statement from CIA Director John Brennan, likely referring to a letter Brennan sent to CIA employees saying that the Director of National Intelligence and the FBI were in agreement that the Russian hacks were in part aimed at helping Trump. It had initially been reported that the CIA believed that the Russians tried to help Trump through cyber attacks but that the FBI was not in complete agreement on the motives.
Trump has dismissed reports that the CIA believes Russian hacks were an attempt to help Trump, and the President-elect has even tried to deny that the Russian government was behind the attack at all.
On Sunday, Priebus insisted that the intelligence community has not been clear about the Russian hacks.
“I think that these guys should be straight with the American people and come out and say it. I don’t think they’ve been clear about it. I think that it’s been all over the map,” Priebus said.
Fox’s Chris Wallace then asked if Brennan’s statement on the hacks was “enough for you.”
“Not when you have multiple people saying different things, coming through third parties and media reports,” Preibus replied.
During an interview on CNN on Saturday, RNC spokesman Sean Spicer would not say whether Trump would take action against Russia for the cyber attacks when he takes office.
“I think to presume that he’s going to do anything at this point would be premature. He is not president yet. President Obama has every right to carry out the duties that he sees fit based on the information he has through the rest of his term,” Spicer said.
