On Thursday afternoon, NBC reported on information from the intelligence report given to President Barack Obama on alleged Russian hacking. Trump himself was not scheduled to be briefed until the following day.
The report, according unnamed officials who spoke to NBC, contained information that Russia had attempted to hack the White House, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Department of State, the 2008 and 2012 elections, and multiple US companies. The alleged election hack, according to NBC, was done as “payback” for Obama questioning Vladimir Putin’s legitimacy as the Russian president.
NBC also reported that the US has also identified “Russian actors” who allegedly gave hacked materials to Wikileaks.
After the report aired, the president-elect took to Twitter to question how the news agency got their hands on the report. “How did NBC get ‘an exclusive look into the top secret report he (Obama) was presented?’ Who gave them this report and why? Politics!” Trump tweeted.
The following morning, NBC published another story saying that an unnamed senior U.S. intelligence official with direct knowledge of the report leaked more details to them, specifically that top Russian officials celebrated Trump’s win.
Trump then took to Twitter once again, calling for an investigation into intelligence being leaked to the network.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2017
“I am asking the chairs of the House and Senate committees to investigate top secret intelligence shared with NBC prior to me seeing it,” Trump tweeted.
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 6, 2017
The tweet was then retweeted by Wikileaks, who added: “President-elect Trump on the authorized #PseudoLeak by the Obama administration of TOP SECRET//COMINT claims to NBC.”
