Donald Trump held firm Monday to his skepticism of the huge intelligence apparatus he’s about to inherit, doubting anew the CIA conclusion that Russia tried to hack its way into tipping the U.S. election his way.
Trump emphasized that he does not accept the conclusion that the Kremlin tried to disrupt the election in his favor, an idea he dismissed as “ridiculous” over the weekend. He also demanded to know why the subject hadn’t been raised before Election Day — which it was, repeatedly.
The focus of reporting by leading news organizations, the issue has been in the headlines since at least June — after hackers broke into computers at the Democratic National Committee, after WikiLeaks began publishing Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman’s hacked emails in October and after the Obama administration publicly blamed Russia’s government, also in October.