Revealed: Top spies told Trump about Putin's election meddling two weeks before the inauguration, disclosed they had a source close to the Russian overlord - and cited evidence Kremlin spies offered hacked emails to Wikileaks
- Three spy chiefs and FBI Director Comey briefed Trump Jan. 6, 2017
- They told him at Trump Tower Putin authorized the inteference
- Warned of hacked emails inside Russian intelligence networks
- CIA director Brennan kept close info from valuable source close to Putin
- Trump immediately began railing against the Russia 'witch hunt'
- The President on Wednesday branded Brennan a 'low-life'
- He fired Comey and said former DNI James Clapper had gone 'haywire'
Weeks before President Donald Trump took office, the nation's top spy chiefs warned him they information that Russian President Vladimir Putin had directed his nation's election hacking effort.
The January 6 meeting in Trump Tower took place before former FBI Director James Comey warned Trump about the golden showers dossier, and also preceded Trump's repeated railings about the Russia probe, which he branded a witch hunt.
The New York Times reported on some of the contents of the meeting in the final days of the Obama administration. Participants included CIA Director John Brennan, Director of National Intelligence John Brennan, NSA head Michael Rogers, and Comey.
President Donald Trump has variously blamed Russia, China, or 'some guy in his home in New Jersey' for the hacking, although top spy chiefs told him in January 2017 it was directed by Russian President Vladimir Putin
A dozen people who were either there or briefed on it said the spy chiefs told Trump about the information pointing to Putin's direct involvement.
British, Dutch, and American intelligence officials had picked up hacked Democratic National Committee emails within Russian spy networks.
Putin's role had also been confirmed by a top-secret source close to Putin, according to the report.
Brennan held the source so close that he kept the person out of the highly classified presidential daily brief, instead opting to deliver information only to top people in a special white envelope.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday he does not believe that Russia is targeting the United States anymore, although the White House said he was only saying 'no' to taking more questions
Trump told CBS Wednesday he told Putin directly that 'We can't have any of that' when it comes to Russian interference with the U.S. elections
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Trump was also given information about the same Russian groups had engaged in cyber hits on the State Department and the Obama White House in 2014 and 2015 as well as the military Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Nevertheless, Trump issued a statement following the meeting where he called out 'Russia, China and other countries, outside groups and countries' for cyber attacks.
The President in a Wednesday interview branded Brennan a 'low-life.' He also attacked Clapper, saying he had gone 'haywire,' and he fired Comey in 2017.
It is a pattern that continued until this week, even as Trump tried to walk back an element of his Helsinki summit, where he saluted Putin's 'powerful' claim not to have engaged in hacking.
Then, on Tuesday, Trump read a statement where he said: 'I accept our intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place.'
President-elect Donald Trump departs a meeting at the Condé Nast offices at One World Trade Center in New York, NY on Friday, Jan. 06, 2017, the day he was briefed by top intelligence officials
Former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Brennan, who briefed Trump, kept close information from a top secret source close to Putin. Trump on Wednesday called Brennan a 'low-life'
Former National Security Agency Director Adm. Michael Rogers also briefed Trump
Also briefing Trump was former director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who Trump on Wednesday said had gone 'haywire'
Former FBI Director James Comey told Trump about the golden showers dossier, and was fired after he says he refused to pledge his loyalty to Trump
President Donald Trump says he told Russian President Vladimir Putin 'We can't have this'
But then he added: ''Could be other people also. There’s a lot of people out there.'
The statement was a return to his campaign penchant for fingering other culprits. He said in September 2016 that 'It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, okay?”
After the election, he said it could be Russia or China, or 'it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey.'
Trump in an interview with CBS on Wednesday, after suffering extraordinary blowback following his Helsinki performance, said he agreed Russia meddled.
'Yeah and I've said that before ... I have said that numerous times before, and I would say that is true, yeah,' he told interviewer Jeff Glor.
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