The Obama administration on Wednesday declined to comment on whether U.S. intelligence officials briefed President Obama and President-elect Trump last week on allegations that Russia has collected potentially damaging information about the incoming commander in chief.
Both men received classified briefings last week, during which intelligence officials discussed their findings on Russia’s hack-and-release operations during the presidential election and other attempts to undermine Americans’ confidence in the U.S. political system. On Tuesday, CNN and Buzzfeed reported that intelligence officials had also briefed Trump and Obama on unverified claims involving Trump that lawmakers on Capitol Hill and various news outlets have known about for months.
“There’s a discussion of this fake news phenomenon in the report as well,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said of the report produced by the intelligence community. “It’s important to understand that the report that was compiled…goes beyond just the malicious cyberactivity that Russia engaged in.”
Trump and incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, who was also present for last week’s briefing, have both said they do not recall being informed of the claims during their sit-down with leading intelligence officials.
The president-elect spent several moments slamming Buzzfeed at a press conference on Wednesday for publishing a 35-page dossier with explosive claims about his campaign’s alleged correspondence with Russian officials and salacious accusations about Trump’s personal conduct while visiting Moscow for his Miss Universe pageant in 2013. Trump also blasted the intelligence community for allowing “information that turned out to be so false and fake” to fall into the hands of the public.
“I think it’s a disgrace,” he said Wednesday. “That’s something that Nazi Germany would have done.”
