President-elect Donald Trump on late Saturday told reporters he will make a revelation about alleged Russian hacking in the U.S. election.
Trump spoke to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., during a New Year’s Eve celebration. He said he knows “things that other people don’t know,” The Hill reported.
“I just want them to be sure because it’s a pretty serious charge,” Trump said, again expressing doubt that Russians swayed the election.
“If you look at the weapons of mass destruction, that was a disaster, and they were wrong,” he said, referring to the CIA’s 2002 intelligence assessment of so-called “WMDs” in Iraq, which were used as a precursor to invade the country and topple the regime of then-dictator Saddam Hussein. At the time, the 2002 report was used as the basis for the Bush administration’s public statements about alleged biological weapons, which represented an immediate threat.
“So I want them to be sure,” Trump added. “I think it’s unfair if they don’t know.”
He then told reporters: “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.”
Trump didn’t elaborate more than that, saying the information will be released “on Tuesday or Wednesday.”
U.S. intelligence officials said that they are confident Russian-backed hackers were behind alleged U.S. election hacks, saying they could have played a role in Trump defeating Hillary Clinton.
Last week, President Barack Obama announced new sanctions against Russia while expelling 35 diplomatic staff and closing two Russian compounds in the United States. Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t expel American staff in response—apparently faithful that Trump will restore relations between the two nations after months of heightened tensions.
On Saturday, Trump also said that “no computer is safe” from security breaches, The Guardian reported. He said that using a pen and paper is more effective at sending secure information.
“If you have something really important, write it out and have it delivered by courier, the old fashioned way, because I'll tell you what, no computer is safe,” Trump said. “I have a boy who’s 10 years old, he can do anything with a computer. You want something to really go without detection, write it out and have it sent by courier,” he added.
The president-elect has questioned reports of Kremlin hacking for months, saying that other foreign actors, such as the Chinese regime—or even a lone hacker—could have hacked the election.
Trump will be sworn in as president on Jan. 20, Inauguration Day.
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