WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama’s order to intelligence officials for a full-scale review of campaign-season cyberattacks met with a cool reception from President-elect Donald Trump, whose transition team said it’s “time to move on.”
Trump has been repeatedly dismissive of the intelligence community’s determination that Russia sought through hacking to disrupt the U.S. election, and Obama’s new initiative was similarly brushed off at Trump Tower.
Trump’s transition office issued a statement reflecting the deep divisions that emerged between his campaign and the intelligence agencies over Russian meddling. “These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction,” the statement said. “The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It’s now time to move on and ‘Make America Great Again.'”
The investigation ordered by Obama will be a “deep dive” into a possible pattern of increased “malicious cyber activity” timed to the campaign season, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said Friday, including the email hacks that rattled the presidential campaign. It will look at the tactics, targets, key actors and the U.S. government’s response to the recent email hacks, as well as incidents reported in past elections, he said.
The president ordered up the report earlier in the week asked that it be completed before he leaves office next month, Schultz said.