|
In
an interview transcript published on Sunday, Trump gave no
evidence backing his allegation, first made on the eve of the
Nov. 8 presidential election, that China could have hacked the
emails of his rivals.
"If you don't catch a hacker, okay, in the act, it's very hard
to say who did the hacking," the president said in an interview
with CBS "Face the Nation." "(It) could have been China, could
have been a lot of different groups."
The hackers roiled the presidential campaign by making public
embarrassing emails sent by Democratic operatives and aides to
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. One email
showed party leaders favoring Clinton over her rival in the
campaign for the party's internal nomination contest.
Trump has been dismissive of the statements by intelligence
officials that Moscow hacked the emails to help Trump win the
election. During the Sept 26 presidential debate with Clinton,
Trump said China was one of many actors that could have been
behind the hack, including "somebody sitting on their bed that
weighs 400 pounds."
Like Russia, China is a longstanding cybersecurity adversary of
the United States. Trump in recent weeks has softened his
criticism of Chinese trade policies as Washington seeks
Beijing's support in diffusing military tensions with North
Korea.
Before Trump was elected, he pledged to improve relations with
Moscow. Russia has denied any involvement in the hacks.
Lawmakers are currently investigating whether Trump's campaign
team had ties with Russia.
(Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Andrew Hay)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
