Barack Obama slams Donald Trump over claim ‘no one knows’ who hacked emails before US election and call to Russia to check out Hillary Clinton’s deleted correspondence
The President also appeared to take aim at the American public, saying they had an 'obsession' with Wikileaks dumps
PRESIDENT Obama has given Donald Trump a verbal slap down in response to his claim "no one" really knows why Democrats got their emails hacked running up to the US election.
He slammed the billionaire for urging Russia to "hack Hillary's emails so that we can...confirm our conspiracy theories."
And then in another verbal smack he took aim at the American public, who he says had an "obsession" with the results of the Wikileaks dumps.
Obama made his comments during an interview with Trevor Noah on.
He said: "The president-elect in some of his political events, specifically said to the Russians, 'Hack Hillary’s emails so that we can finally find out what’s going on and confirm our conspiracy theories.'"
Obama then referred to the other email hacks saying: "What is it about the state of our democracy where the leaks of what were frankly not very interesting emails, that didn’t have any explosive information in them, ended up being an obsession?
"And the fact that the Russians were doing this was not an obsession?"
He then said to Noah: "The real question that I think we all have to reflect on is what’s happened to our political system where some emails that were hacked and released ended up being the overwhelming story and the constant source of coverage, breathless coverage that was depicted as somehow damning in all sorts of ways — when the truth of the matter was it was fairly routine stuff."
His spokesman Josh Earnest also took aim at Trump during the daily briefing saying: "He called on Russia to hack his opponent.
"He called on Russia to attack Secretary Clinton.
"So, he certainly had a pretty good sense of which side this activity was coming down on."
Both of them were referring to Trump's plea at a rally in July the Kremlin should take a look into Hillary Clinton's emails, which had been deleted, in the wake of reports Russia was thought to be part of a hack.
He told the baying crowd at the event: "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you'll be rewarded mightily by our press!"
It was on Monday the new leader of the free world dismissed US intelligence findings that Russian hackers intervened in the election to help him win as a “conspiracy theory”.
The President-elect poured fresh scorn on the CIA claims in a Twitter rant and blamed the findings on Democrats looking for excuses for his defeat of Hillary Clinton.
“Unless you catch "hackers" in the act, it is very hard to determine who was doing the hacking,” he tweeted.
“Why wasn't this brought up before election?
“Can you imagine if the election results were the opposite and WE tried to play the Russia/CIA card. It would be called conspiracy theory!”
He also blasted the findings that Moscow hacked Democrats' emails to bolster his chances in the US election during a TV interview.
“I think it's ridiculous,” he told Fox News.
“I think it's just another excuse. I don't believe it. Every week it's another excuse.”
His comments came two days after the Washington Post reported that the CIA concluded Russian cyber intrusions were made to help Trump win the election.
The quoted a senior US official as saying: “It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russia’s goal here was to favor one candidate over the other, to help Trump get elected.
“That’s the consensus view.”
US intelligence has previously linked Russia to leaks of thousands of damaging emails from Hillary Clinton's campaign.
The New York Times quoted senior officials as saying there was "high confidence" that the Russians hacked both the Democrats and Republicans.
But the officials said only documents damaging to Clinton were leaked through WikiLeaks.
The CIA findings alarmed US politicians, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain.
McCain said he is planning to put a staunch Trump critic in charge of investigating the claim.
The president-elect's dismissal of the report is likely to set up an extraordinary rift between a soon-to-be president and his national-security team.
He refused to believe the CIA findings on, saying: “Nobody really knows, and hacking is very interesting.
“Once they hack, if you don’t catch them in the act you’re not going to catch them. They have no idea if it’s Russia or China or somebody. It could be somebody sitting in a bed some place.”
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Intelligence officials hit back and said Trump's response to the findings was "concerning".
“It’s concerning that intelligence on Russian actions related to the US election is being dismissed out of hand as false or politically partisan,” a US intelligence official said, according to the WSJ.
Trump's transition team also took a swipe at the CIA on Saturday by saying officials had botched its analysis of Iraq’s program of weapons of mass destruction in 2003.
During the startling interview on Sunday, Trump also claimed he does not need daily intelligence briefings because he is such a "smart person".
The President elect said he only requires the information if something has changed.
“I say, ‘If something should change from this point, immediately call me. I’m available on one-minute’s notice,’” he said.
“I don’t have to be told—you know, I’m, like, a smart person. I don’t have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years.”
Trump is reportedly only receiving an intelligence briefing - by contrast President Obama has a briefing SIX DAYS a week.
Trump said the people who are giving him the briefings are “very good people” and his Vice President-elect, Mike Pence, was also receiving all the regular updates.
SENATORS CALL FOR PROBE INTO RUSSIAN ROLE IN 2016 US ELECTION
A GROUP of senators have called for an investigation into claims that Russia hacked into Democrats’ emails in a bid to help Trump get elected.
Two Republicans and two Democrats have joined forces to say more must be done to protect Americans against cyber-attacks.
They said the secret CIA report that Russian hackers intervened in the US election should “alarm every American”.
Incoming Senate Democratic leader, Sen. John McCain, the Armed Services Committee chairman, Sen Chuck Schumer, Sen. Lindsey Graham, and Sen. Jack Reed made up the group.
In a statement they said: "Congress's national security committees have worked diligently to address the complex challenge of cybersecurity, but recent events show that more must be done."
"While protecting classified material, we have an obligation to inform the public about recent cyberattacks that have cut to the heart of our free society.
“Democrats and Republicans must work together, and across the jurisdictional lines of the Congress, to examine these recent incidents thoroughly and devise comprehensive solutions to deter and defend against further cyber-attacks."
Turning to business matters, Trump said he is leaving his worldwide enterprise to his executives and children, vowing, that he will "have nothing to do with management."
He's expected to discuss the arrangement at a news conference on Thursday.
He also said he is "studying" the Paris climate agreement to reduce carbon emissions.
But he doesn't want the agreement to put the US "at a competitive disadvantage with other countries."
Trump also departed from Republican thinking by vowing to heavily tax companies that leave the US and then try to sell products here "like we're a bunch of jerks."
"That's the dumb market," he said. "I'm a big free trader, but it has to be fair."
