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White House press secretary Josh Earnest speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2016. Earnest answered questions about Russian hacking, healthcare and other topics.
The United States will soon respond to Russia's attack via hacking on the 2016 presidential election, according to President Barack Obama. Speaking to National Public Radio, Obama said, "I think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections that we need to take action and we will at a time and place of our own choosing."
The Obama White House knew about Russian hacking in the summer of 2015, but kept quiet about it because it thought Democrat Hillary Clinton would win anyway, and it did not want to risk a cyber war with our Cold War foe, NBC News reported. "They thought she was going to win, so they were willing to kick the can down the road," NBC quoted one government official familiar with the situation.
US President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday again rejected the CIA's conclusion that Russia manipulated the US election, as the hacking scandal expanded into a hefty foreign policy challenge just five weeks before he takes office. Even as NBC News reported that US intelligence has concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin had a direct hand in the hacking plot, Trump took to Twitter to dismiss the issue, which has been roiling since before he defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton on November 8. "If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House waite [sic] so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?" he tweeted.
A US official familiar with the US intelligence assessment of the Russia election-related hacking said the understanding is that the operation was carried out with sophisticated hacking tools, the equivalent of those used by the US National Security Agency. The use of the advanced tools suggests Russian President Vladimir Putin was involved in the hacks, a person familiar with the matter said, adding that it was more than a US intelligence assumption at this point.
The Trump-Russia scandal continues to widen, with revelations that are making it increasingly clear that not only do we need a full investigation, but that investigation needs to be independent and bipartisan, and include public hearings. Some Republicans, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have suggested that the Senate Intelligence Committee can handle it.
In this June 15, 2012, file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson shake hands at a signing ceremony of an agreement between state-controlled Russian oil company Rosneft and ExxonMobil at the Black Sea port of Tuapse, southern Russia. President-elect Donald Trump selected Tillerson to lead the State Department on Monday, Dec. 12, 2016.
In this June 15, 2012, file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, now secretary of state-designate, shake hands at a signing ceremony of an agreement between state-controlled Russian oil company Rosneft and ExxonMobil at the Black Sea port of Tuapse, southern Russia. If there's one thing Republicans and Democrats have agreed on in foreign policy, it is the power of sanctions.
U.S. intelligence officials now believe with "a high level of confidence" that Russian President Vladimir Putin became personally involved in the covert Russian campaign to interfere in the U.S. presidential election, senior U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News. Two senior officials with direct access to the information say new intelligence shows that Putin personally directed how hacked material from Democrats was leaked and otherwise used.
Russian President Vladimir Putin listens during a meeting in the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, on Monday, Nov. 14, 2016. US intelligence officials believe Russian President Vladimir Putin was likely directly involved in the hacking campaign that targeted Democratic Party officials and organizations during the US presidential election, NBC News reported Tuesday.
Since becoming Exxon's CEO in 2006, and before that as head of the oil giant's international division, Tillerson has presided over operations in some 200 countries, positions that put him in contact with a global rogues' gallery of strongmen from Russia's Vladimir Putin to Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, Chad's Idriss Deby to Yemen's Ali Abdullah Saleh. That experience, according to friends and allies, makes him well-suited to go toe to toe with some of the world's nastiest people.
FILE - In this Feb. 7, 2007, file photo, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivers a speech at a rally marking the Northern Territory Day in Tokyo. Abe will welcome Russian President Vladimir Putin at a hot springs ... .
Boosters of Donald Trump's candidate to be the next secretary of state talk about his experience leading one of the world's largest companies -- and so do his detractors. Fans of ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson say running a global energy company equips the 64-year-old with the management tools needed to represent the US abroad.
President-elect Dona... . FILE- In this June 15, 2012, file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson shake hands at a signing ceremony of an agreement between... Two Colorado electors are appealing a judge's ruling that they must vote for the presidential candidate who won their state's popular vote.
Late Monday, President-elect Donald Trump's transition team quietly announced that it was postponing his first post-election conference, meant to address potential conflicts of interests for the incoming commander-in-chief. Then early Tuesday, Trump announced his selection of Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State and lined up former Republican government officials with ties to ExxonMobil and Russia's state-run gas company to vouch for the career oil man with no experience in government.
In this June 15, 2012, file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson shake hands at a signing ceremony of an agreement between state-controlled Russian oil company Rosneft and ExxonMobil at the Black Sea port of Tuapse, southern Russia.
The world has turned itself upside down. Only yesterday the liberals and the left regarded the CIA as the locus of evil, the gang that couldn't shoot straight, forever poisoning gentle minds with a diet of conspiracy and tall tale.
Citing Rex Tillerson's business acumen and "broad experience and deep understanding of geopolitics," US president-elect Donald Trump has confirmed the ExxonMobil head as secretary of state. "Rex Tillerson's career is the embodiment of the American dream.
President-elect Donald Trump has picked as his secretary of state Rex Tillerson, the chief executive of ExxonMobil, setting up a possible confrontation with members of his own party in the Senate, according to a person involved in the transition. Since Tillerson's name emerged as a candidate for the post, leading Republicans have expressed reservations about his years of work in Russia and the Middle East on behalf of the multinational petroleum company.