Donald
Trump says it is 'unfair' to blame Russia for election interference
President-elect
warns reporters on New Year’s Eve against being quick to pin blame
on Moscow for the hacking of Democratic Party emails
Guardian staff and
agencies
Sunday 1 January
2017 03.12 GMT
Donald Trump has
expressed continued skepticism over whether Russia was responsible
for computer hacks of Democratic Party officials.
In remarks to
reporters upon entering a New Year’s Eve celebration at his
Mar-a-Lago estate, Trump warned against being quick to pin the blame
on Russia for the hacking of US emails.
“I just want them
to be sure, because it’s a pretty serious charge,” he said.
“And if you look
at the weapons of mass destruction, that was a disaster, and they
were wrong.”
The Washington Post
also reported on Friday that Moscow could be behind intrusion into a
laptop owned by a Vermont electricity utility.
US intelligence
officials have said that they are confident Russia was behind the US
election hacks, which could have played a role in Trump’s defeat
over Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
“I think it’s
unfair if we don’t know. It could be somebody else. I also know
things that other people don’t know so we cannot be sure,” Trump
said on Saturday.
Asked what that
information included, the president-elect said, “You will find out
on Tuesday or Wednesday.” He did not elaborate.
He went on to warn
that “no computer is safe” from hacking and suggest that using a
pen and paper was the most effective way of exchanging 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,” he said.
“I have a boy
who’s ten 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.”
Trump also left open
the possibility of meeting with Taiwan’s president if she visits
the United States after he is sworn in on 20 January.
“We’ll see,”
he said when pressed on whether he would meet Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s
president if she were to be in the United States at any point after
he becomes president.
Taiwan’s president
will be in transit in Houston on 7 January and again will be in
transit in San Francisco on 13 January.
Beijing bristled
when Trump, shortly after his 8 November victory, accepted a
congratulatory telephone call from the Taiwan leader and has warned
against steps that would upset the “one-China” policy China and
the United States have maintained for decades.
Talk of a stop-over
in the United States by the Taiwan president has further rattled
Washington-Beijing relations.
Trump spoke to
reporters for four minutes before entering the New Year’s party.
Earlier in the day he ditched his press pool to play golf at one of
his clubs.
He has not held a
formal press conference since July.
Reuters contributed
to this report
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