Trump says it 'could've been China' behind election hacks
Months after the intelligence community briefed President Trump on Russian influence in the election, he still isn't 100 percent behind the evidence.
First came the 400-pound hacker. Now Donald Trump suggests that China might have been behind those election hacks.
President Trump still isn't 100 percent sure Russian hackers influenced the 2016 presidential election. In an interview on CBS News' Face the Nation, the commander-in-chief commented on email leaks that rocked the Democratic National Committee during the heat of the presidential race between him and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. (Disclosure: CBS is the parent company of CNET.)
"Knowing something about hacking, if you don't catch a hacker, OK, in the act, it's very hard to say who did the hacking," Trump said. "With that being said, I'll go along with Russia. Could've been China, could've been a lot of different groups."
The president has pointed fingers at many potential culprits behind the DNC's hacks, including "somebody that sits on their bed that weighs 400 pounds." He's also alleged that the hackers could be from China. His latest comments come more than four months after the intelligence community released its report on how Russians hacked the election and briefed President Trump on its findings.
He's argued that the hacking did not affect the outcome of the election, even after the FBI announced it was investigating ties between Russian hackers and Trump's election team.
Trump said he did not know who was really behind the hacking and claimed he was "OK" with the intelligence community's findings about Russia. But he's certain that his campaign isn't connected to the hackers.
"I can tell you one thing. Had nothing to do with us. Had nothing to do with this, and everyone knows it," the president said.
Trump's presidency has been muddled in his first 100 days over the White House staff's possible ties to Russian influences. In February, National Security adviser Michael Flynn resigned after lying about contacts with the Russian ambassador.
The commander-in-chief's suggestion that China could be the hacking force behind the DNC leak likely won't help his relationship with the country. In recent months, Trump has accused China of manipulating its currency, claimed global warming is a Chinese hoax, and tweetstormed about the country.
Despite his latest accusation, Trump said he's on very good terms with the Chinese president.
"The relationship I have with China, it's been already acclaimed as being something very special, something very different than we've ever had," Trump said.
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