House Speaker Paul Ryan “rejects any politicization of intelligence matters,” one of his top aides said Sunday morning, following demands for a Congressional probe after unnamed sources told media outlets that the CIA believes Russians hacked the election to benefit Donald Trump.
“The speaker cannot comment on or characterize the content of classified briefings, but he rejects any politicization of intelligence matters,” AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman, said on Sunday.
A bipartisan group of Congressional lawmakers are seeing a probe of Russia’s actions to influence the election and said they would seek “to unify our colleagues around the goal of investigating and stopping the grave threats that cyberattacks conducted by foreign governments pose to our national security.”
The Washington Post reported last week that a “secret” CIA report found that Russian hacking during the 2016 election was intended specifically to help Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton.
But sources on Capitol Hill told the Washington Examiner that the CIA has not established that connection and that the information leaked to the Post was inaccurate.
Trump this weekend pushed back on the claim about the CIA, arguing that it is part of an effort by Democrats to explain their stunning November defeat.
Strong said Sunday that federal and local officials have worked to ensure the election was fair.
“All year, the intelligence community, law enforcement and state and local election officials have been working to ensure that this election was conducted consistent with our long history of free and fair elections,” Strong said.
