Two high-profile Republican lawmakers on Wednesday cautioned against believing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange over the intelligence community about Russia’s involvement in hacks of the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta’s emails.
The separate comments from House Speaker Paul Ryan and Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton may be seen as veiled shots at President-elect Trump. Trump has refused to believe the Russians were involved in the leaks of DNC and Podesta emails and repeatedly questions whether anyone can know who is responsible for the hacks. On Wednesday morning, Trump cited Assange in making his argument that Russia wasn’t responsible.
Assange told Fox News Tuesday night that the source of Podesta’s email was “not a state party,” but President Obama has alleged the hacks were ordered from the highest levels of the Kremlin.
Ryan said on the Hugh Hewitt Show he didn’t want to comment directly on Trump’s tweet but warned against believing Assange.
“I think the guy is a sycophant for Russia,” Ryan said. “He leaks, he steals data and compromises national security.”
Ryan said Trump hadn’t yet been briefed on the Russian hacks of the DNC and Podesta, despite the White House asserting that he has received those briefings, and hoped he would get more information this week.
“Hopefully he’ll get up to speed on what’s been happening and what Russia has or has not done, and he’ll be better informed on that,” Ryan said.
Cotton, who supported Trump throughout the election, criticized those who believe Assange’s statement that the Russian government is not responsible for the hacks into the DNC and Podesta.
Speaking on MSNBC Wednesday, Cotton said he doesn’t want to jump to conclusions about the extent or motivation of Russia’s hacks into prominent Democrats before the intelligence community releases a report ordered by President Obama.
However, he’s more inclined to believe the information released publicly by the intelligence community than Assange, Cotton said.
“I have a lot more faith in our intelligence officers serving around the world and their experiences than I do in Julian Assange, I’ll tell you that much,” Cotton said.
Cotton said intelligence officers deserve more respect than they get.
“Intelligence officers are like military personnel, they just don’t work in public and they don’t wear uniforms when they walk through airports,” he said, “so they don’t get the respect they deserve.”
Cotton detailed multiple actions he’s tried to take in the Senate that would bolster American defenses against Russian hacking.
The junior senator from Arkansas said Obama had stalled on being tough with Russia until his very last weeks in office because he thought he could improve relations with the country.
“He thought he could reset with Russia, or he could use Russia to achieve other goals like the nuclear deal with Iran or a peace settlement in Syria,” Cotton said. “I think we’ve seen many times how Russia can play Lucy to President Obama’s Charlie Brown.”
