President-elect Donald Trump's transition team takes aim on CIA. Last Friday, following reports the agency has concluded that Russia intervened in the election to help him win.
In a stunning response to widening claims of a Russian espionage operation targeting the presidential race, Trump's camp risked an early feud with the Intelligence community on which he will rely for top secret assessments of the greatest threats facing the United States.
The transition team's reference to the agency's most humiliating recent intelligence misfire over its conclusion that Iraq under Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction - threatens to cast an early cloud over relations between the Trump White House and the CIA, whose assessments he'll need to make monumental decisions.
The top leadership of the agency that presided over the Iraq failure during the Bush administration has long since been replaced. But the comments from Trump's camp will cause concern in the Intelligence community about the incoming President's attitude to America's spy agencies. CNN reported this week that Trump is getting intelligence briefings only once a week. Several previous presidents preparing for the inauguration had a more intense briefing schedule.
"What proof does anyone have that they affected the outcome because I've heard zero. Show me what facts have actually shown that anything undermined that election. The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It's now time to move on and 'Make America Great Again," as stated by the President-elect Donald Trump.
Intelligence agencies have identified individuals connected to the Russian government who gave thousands of hacked emails from the "Democratic National Committee" and Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta.
Trump has repeatedly said there is no evidence to suggest that President Vladimir Putin's Russia, with which he has vowed to improve relations, played a nefarious role in the US election.