Despite lack of independently verified evidence, Trump at first press conference after winning Nov. 8, 2016 election agreed that Russia "hacked" the election and that Putin "shouldn't have done it"-ABC News, Jan. 11, 2017...(Trump also chose to hire NSA chief Mike Rogers already on record saying Putin hacked the election to tip it to Trump. Why would you hire someone who thinks your election was a fraud?)

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Jan. 2017 article:

Jan. 11, 2017, "Trump Concedes Russia Was Behind Hacking, Says Putin 'Shouldn't Have Done It'," ABC News, Morgan Winsor

"President-elect Donald Trump said today he accepts the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia was behind the massive alleged hacking of political organizations and individuals during the U.S. presidential race--the first time he has conceded that Russia was behind the cyberattacks. 

"As far as hacking, I think it was Russia," Trump told reporters during his first press conference since winning the Nov. 8 election. "But I also think we've been hacked by other countries, other people."

Trump added that Russian President Vladimir Putin "shouldn't have done it" and he doesn't believe Putin will "be doing it more now" after he's inaugurated on Jan. 20. 

Last week Trump and President Barack Obama were separately briefed on a classified intelligence report on Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election. A declassified version was released afterward that said Putin ordered a campaign to influence the contest between Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. 

"We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election. Russia's goals were to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton and harm her electability and potential presidency," the report reads, citing the Russian government's "long-standing desire to undermine the U.S.-led liberal democratic order." 

"We further assess Putin and the Russian government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump," the report continues, saying Putin nursed a "grudge" against Clinton "for comments he almost certainly saw as disparaging." 

After being briefed on the report, Trump took to Twitter to blame the Democratic National Committee's "gross negligence" in the cyberattacks. 

At the press conference Trump said it would be "very important" to develop a "hacking defense" because "the United States is hacked by everybody." 

When asked by ABC News' Jonathan Karl whether he accepted that the Russian president ordered the influence campaign in favor of a Trump victory, Trump continued to assert that the United States will benefit from a stronger relationship with Moscow. 

"We have a horrible relationship with Russia," he responded. "If Putin likes Donald Trump — guess what, folks — that’s called an asset, not a liability." 

Trump said the Russian government will have "far greater respect" for the United States with him at the helm, adding that he will be "tougher" on Putin than Clinton would have been. 

"Now, I don't know that I'm going to get along with Vladimir Putin. I hope I do. But there's a good chance I won't," he said. "And if I don't, do you honestly believe that Hillary would be tougher on Putin than me? Does anyone in this room really believe that? Give me a break.""

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Added: Trump's chosen NSA chief Michael Rogers says that Putin hacked the DNC to tip the election to Trump: 

4/5/17, "EXCLUSIVE: Cybersecurity experts who were first to conclude that Putin hacked presidential election ABANDON some of their claims against Russia - and refuse to co-operate with Congress," Daily Mail, Alana Goodman

"HOW RUSSIAN HACK CLAIMS UNFOLDED" 

"January 6 (2017): The intelligence services - including the FBI, CIA, NSA and 14 others - present a 'unanimous' report to president-elect Trump. It concluded that Putin ordered a hacking campaign to tip the election in Trump's favor. No new evidence of how the hacking was carried out is presented in the public version of the report.

March 20 (2017): FBI Director James Comey and NSA head Michael Rogers testify to the House Intelligence Committee that their conclusions remain the same."

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Added: Trump selects a man for a top position who thinks Trump was likely elected by Russian fraud: NSA chief Michael Rogers says, “There shouldn’t be any doubt in anybody’s mind" Putin hacked the election to tip it to Trump:

Dec. 13, 2016, "The Perfect Weapon: How Russian Cyberpower Invaded the U.S.," NY Times, Eric Lipton, David E. Sanger, Scott Shane 

"While there's no way to be certain of the ultimate impact of the hack, this much is clear: A low-cost, high-impact weapon that Russia had test-fired in elections from Ukraine to Europe was trained on the United States with devastating effectiveness."...

[Ed. note: If "there's no way to be certain" of the ultimate impact," it can't possibly have had "devastating effectiveness."]
  
(continuing): "For Russia, with an enfeebled economy and a nuclear arsenal it cannot use short of all-out war, cyberpower proved the perfect weapon: cheap, hard to see coming, hard to trace.

“There shouldn’t be any doubt in anybody’s mind,” Adm. Michael S. Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency and commander of United States Cyber Command, said at a postelection conference.

“This was not something that was done casually, this was not something that was done by chance, this was not a target that was selected purely arbitrarily,” he said. “This was a conscious effort by a nation-state to attempt to achieve a specific effect.”"...

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Comment: So Trump hired a guy who thinks his election was obtained by fraud.


 

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