Trump to meet intelligence officials over Russian cyberattacks

The meeting would focus on analyzing the evidence gathered by the Barack Obama administration's intelligence team on Russian cyberattacks during the US presidential election campaign.

New York, Jan 5: US President-elect Donald Trump will meet top US intelligence officials in New York on Friday to analyse the issue of Russian cyberattacks.

Participating in the meeting, among others, will be CIA Director John Brennan, FBI Chief James Comey and National Intelligence Director James Clapper, a spokesman for Trump said on Wednesday, Efe news reported.

The meeting would focus on analyzing the evidence gathered by the Barack Obama administration's intelligence team on Russian cyberattacks during the US presidential election campaign, which Trump won on November 8.

A spokesman for Trump's transition team said in the daily telephonic conference with reporters that the meeting was requested last week by the transition team and was to be held once an official report had been prepared.

Spokesman Sean Spicer said that the meeting was ultimately scheduled for Friday, although it is not known if Trump or the presidential transition team will make any comment about it afterwards.

In a Twitter message, Trump had said that the meeting had been "delayed" until Friday and added "Perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!"

In remarks last week in Florida, Trump cast doubt on the implication that Russian authorities had ordered the hacking, adding that it was time to focus on more important matters.

When Spicer was asked what Trump based his skepticism about Russian hacking on, he said on Wednesday that the president-elect wants be given all the data and the conclusions that intelligence officials have drawn from them.

"I think what he wants to hear from them is, how does the raw intelligence justify the conclusion that is being presented...?" Spicer said.

IANS