US president-elect Donald Trump on Friday said that hacking by foreign powers did not sway the US election, after being briefed on an intelligence report that blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for a cybercampaign to keep Hillary Rodham Clinton out of the White House.
After weeks of rejecting the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the election, the US president-elect accepted the possibility that Moscow was involved in hacking US targets, including the Democratic National Committee.
In a statement after meeting four top intelligence chiefs, Trump acknowledged that cyberattacks by Russia, China and other countries threaten US institutions, political parties, and businesses.
However, there was no direct acceptance of the intelligence chiefs’ conclusion that Moscow staged an unprecedented attempt to influence the presidential race by hacking and leaking documents that, they said in a new report, also aimed to boost Trump’s campaign.
“While Russia, China, other countries, outside groups and people are consistently trying to break through the cyberinfrastructure of our governmental institutions, businesses and organizations including the Democrat National Committee, there was absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election,” Trump said in a statement.
Trump met the heads of the US Directorate of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Agency in New York on their newly completed report into Moscow’s alleged interference.
Meanwhile, as congressional Republicans on Friday discussed quickly moving ahead with plans for a southern border wall using money included in this year’s spending bills, Trump insisted Mexico would ultimately pay for its construction.
“We’re going to get reimbursed,” Trump said during a brief telephone interview. “But I don’t want to wait that long. But you start and then you get reimbursed.”
The congressional Republicans’ talk led to speculation Trump was retreating on his campaign promise to make Mexico pay for the wall.
Trump said he is not.
Republicans have balked at increases in domestic spending during the administration of US President Barack Obama and are unlikely to enthusiastically rally behind a proposal that could require billions of taxpayer dollars.
Building a wall to keep out unauthorized immigrants could also face intense opposition from a bipartisan coalition in US Congress that says that a vast barrier along the border would be ineffective in stopping people who are determined to enter the country illegally and would represent a symbolic affront to the idea that the US is a welcoming country that embraces immigration.
Trump said that payment would most likely emerge from his efforts to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with the Mexican government.
“It’s going to be part of everything,” Trump said of the cost of building the wall. “We are going to be making a much better deal. It’s a deal that never should have been signed.”
However, he said that the trade negotiations would take time and that he supported the idea of using taxpayer money to begin construction of the border wall “in order to speed up the process.”
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