Is Trump Lying? PEOTUS Now Says Intelligence Heads Have Postponed Their Russian Hacking Meeting With Him
CNNÂ Chief National Security Correspondent Says Meeting Was Not Scheduled for Today
Could Donald Trump be lying? On New Year’s Eve the president-elect, once again attempting to sow confusion and possible doubt that Russia has been hacking in the U.S. – specifically into the DNC and John Podesta’s emails – claimed he knows more than most people and would reveal this additional, special information “Tuesday or Wednesday.”Â
The “Intelligence” briefing on so-called “Russian hacking” was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017
In the interim Kellyanne Conway and Sean Spicer, Trump’s incoming White House advisor and Press Secretary, made the rounds to assure Americans that Trump would be weighing all the evidence and listening to the heads of the intelligence agencies before rendering a verdict on whether or not he agrees with the consensus of all 17 U.S. intelligence agencies that Vladimir Putin’s Russian government is behind the hacking.
Trump minutes ago again took to Twitter, announcing that the head of the CIA and the Director of National Intelligence have postponed their meeting with him until Friday.
But CNN’s Chief National Security Correspondent says that there was never a meeting scheduled for today.
1/Intelligence officials tell CNN briefing by DNI Clapper & CIA Dir Brennan on hacking review never scheduled for today. https://t.co/5wKnyhtta6
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) January 4, 2017
In other words, Trump may have been lying when he promised to reveal “Tuesday or Wednesday” this special information that no one else has, about the Russian hacking operation, for which President Barack Obama has laid down stiff sanctions.
To be clear, on New Year’s Eve, Trump said he had information that no one else did, so why does he need to be briefed by U.S. intelligence to share it? And why can’t the president-elect, if he needs to talk with the head of the CIA or the DNI, do so any time he wants. It’s pretty much guaranteed they will take his calls.
CNNÂ Senior White House Correspondent adds:
Trump official tells me no plans for Trump to speak on Russia hacking tomorrow. Over wknd, Trump said he would have more “Tues or Wed”
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 4, 2017
Trump, Sciutto suggests, also “appears to be calling into question both the hacking & his own intel agencies.”
2/With the “..” PEOTUS appears to be calling into question both the hacking & his own intel agencies https://t.co/5wKnyhtta6
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) January 4, 2017
And he adds that the Trump camp has now changed their story three times:
3/This is the 3rd story Trump & team have told on #Russian hacking in 3 days. 1st was that Trump had “new info” only he knew
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) January 4, 2017
Sciutto isn’t the only one calling in to question Trump’s claims, which, given Trump’s track record, it seems fair to call him out for lying.
TRUMP TWEET TRANSLATION: “I’m pretending they cancelled it so they’ll look bad and you’ll forget it over the weekend.” https://t.co/NMIGdjtTZD
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) January 4, 2017
So per CNN reporting, Trump lied…
– about having secret hacking info
(never was any)
– about a postponed briefing today
(never scheduled)— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) January 4, 2017
So, let’s just call it what it is.
Trump was lying on New Year’s Eve, he’s lying now, and he has zero intention of ever admitting that his pal Vladimir Putin has been hacking inside the U.S., and did so to help Trump win the election.
GOP Sen. John McCain has called Putin’s actions an “act of war.“
Why won’t our incoming president protect us?Â
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Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC licenseÂ
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