White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the Intelligence Community wasn’t “particularly subtle” in its October assessment of which Russian actors could have authorized the country’s hacking of U.S. election activity this year, hinting that Vladimir Putin must have somehow been involved.
The IC announced that it was “confident” the Russian government was responsible for compromising the emails of Democratic entities and officials, and that the “scope and sensitivity” of the efforts indicated the involvement of the highest-ranking members inside the Kremlin. “[O]nly Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities,” read the statement from the Department of Homeland Security and Director of National Intelligence.
Asked if the White House had been told Putin was directly involved, as an anonymously sourced report from NBC News claimed this week, Earnest referred to the “senior-most officials” wording in the DHS and DNI’s analysis.
“At the risk of editorializing, when I read that statement for the first time in early October, I didn’t think it was particularly subtle,” he told reporters Thursday.
When pressed, Earnest added he wasn’t in a position to verify information published in the press that Putin was personally involved.
“I’d refer you to the Intelligence Community for their assessment. Their assessment that they reported on October 7 may give you some insight into what they may be thinking,” he said.
NBC News cited “two senior officials” privy to new intelligence that demonstrates Putin’s direct participation in orchestrating how hacked data were “leaked and otherwise used.” The intel came from diplomatic sources and spies working for American allies, according to the officials, and it is “nearly incontrovertible,” the report stated, based on the level of confidence the officials place in it.
A Kremlin spokesman regarded claims of Putin’s involvement as “laughable nonsense” in a response on Thursday.
Earnest also doubled down on a suggestion he made Wednesday of Trump possessing knowledge of Russia’s election meddling and how the interference was damaging his opponent’s campaign. Semantics may be at issue: Whereas Earnest said Thursday that Trump must have been aware of the activity, he implied the day before that the candidate knew of it specifically well in advance of the Intelligence Community providing its own conclusion.
“That’s why he was encouraging [Russian hackers] to keep doing it,” he said Wednesday, in reference to a late-July news conference remark from Trump that the president-elect later said was a joke.
Trump aide Kellyanne Conway blasted Earnest Thursday morning, calling his comments “remarkable” and “breathtaking.”
“He essentially stated that the president-elect had knowledge of this, maybe even fanned the flames. It’s incredibly irresponsible, and I wonder if his boss, President Obama, agrees,” she said on Fox & Friends.
Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign asserted in late October that Trump must have been tipped off to Russia’s activity, with top foreign policy aide Jake Sullivan saying “it’s time for Trump to tell the American people what he knew about these hacks and when he knew it.” The Daily Beast asked the campaign if it had any evidence, and the outlet said it did not provide any.
