Twitter Mocks Trump for Claiming He Knows ‘Things Other People Don’t Know’ About Russian Hacking

‘Wow, Maybe @RealDonaldTrump Has Found the 400 Pound Hacker!’

Saturday evening Donald Trump claimed to know more than others do about Russia’s computer hacking of the U.S. The president-elect told reporters that it’s “unfair” to blame Russia based on evidence all 17 American intelligence agencies unanimously agree upon – that Russia intervened in the American election that placed him in the White House. Trump also promised to disclose information about the Russians’ hacking this coming week.

“I know a lot about hacking,” Trump told several pool reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate, where he was holding a $525 to $575 per person for-profit sold-out New Year’s Eve celebration. “And hacking is a very hard thing to prove. So it could be somebody else. And I also know things that other people don’t know, and so they cannot be sure of the situation,” The New York Times reports.

Asked to reveal what that information that he knows that others don’t, Trump responded, “You’ll find out on Tuesday or Wednesday.”

Trump continued his attempts to discount the conclusions of the CIA, the FBI, the Director of National Intelligence, and all of America’s other intelligence agencies that led to President Barack Obama imposing historic sanctions on the Russian government this past week. Those sanctions included the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats and operatives and the shuttering two Russian government owned compounds in the U.S. that are used for spying.

“I just want them to be sure because it’s a pretty serious charge,” Trump said, speaking about the 17 intelligence agencies. “If you look at the weapons of mass destruction, that was a disaster, and they were wrong,” Trump said of the information the Bush administration, especially Vice President Dick Cheney, forced the U.S. intelligence agencies to produce. 

“So I want them to be sure,” Trump added, saying, “I think it’s unfair if they don’t know.”

Trump also said he thinks important information should be sent not by computer but via courier, noting his 10-year old son “can do anything with a computer.”

It’s unclear what information Trump could have that the CIA, the FBI, the DNI, and other agencies do not, or how he could have received it, being a private citizen. His claims led many on Twitter to mock him and his claims, comparing them to other promises Trump has made on which he never delivered.

Among those disputing Trump’s claims, U.S. Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA), the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee:

Schiff on ABC News’s “This Week” Sunday morning added that the president-elect “needs to stop denigrating the intelligence community,” and noted that no one on any House or Senate intelligence committee has any question about the validity of the intelligence agencies’ reports on Russian hacking.

A few more examples:

Former Obama campaign chief strategist David Axelrod:

Others:

 

Image: Screenshot via YouTube