On Thursday evening, during one of his latest Tweetstorms, Trump criticized leaks to several media outlets detailing contents of the classified Russian hacking report which Trump is set to go over any minute.
The leaks came before Trump’s own briefing on those details by the intelligence community. The 50-page report was delivered to US President Barack Obama on Thursday, and is to be delivered to President-elect Donald Trump on Friday by top intelligence officials, including Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and CIA Director John Brennan, the Washington Post reports, one of several outlets that were given priority over the president-elect in learning the details of the document. CNN and NBC News also reported on the classified report, sparking outrage from Trump.
“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 said in a tweet.
How did NBC get "an exclusive look into the top secret report he (Obama) was presented?" Who gave them this report and why? Politics!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2017
Then, moments ago, following his interview with the NYT this morning in which he suggested that the storm surrounding Russian hacking during the presidential campaign is “a political witch hunt” being carried out by his adversaries, who he said were embarrassed by their loss to him in the election last year, and just prior to the debriefing by US intelligence agencies meant to prove to Trump once and for all that Putin was indeed responsible for his election, an angry Trump doubled down and tweeted that he is “asking the chairs of the House and Senate committees to investigate top secret intelligence shared with NBC prior to me seeing it.”
I am asking the chairs of the House and Senate committees to investigate top secret intelligence shared with NBC prior to me seeing it.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2017
As noted before, NBC News on Thursday reported that U.S. intelligence found Russian officials celebrating Trump’s election win. NBC cited “a senior U.S. intelligence official with direct knowledge” of the intel report that was delivered to President Obama on Thursday and is scheduled to be delivered to Trump on Friday.
“Highly classified intercepts illustrate Russian government planning and direction of a multifaceted campaign by Moscow to undermine the integrity of the American political system,” NBC quotes the source saying. “What you will see is that there were evolving goals over time. At the end, they were trying to elect Trump,” the source adds.
A declassified version of the report is expected to be released to the public on Friday.
NBC’s story came after the Washington Post first reported details from the review.
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On the surface, Trump’s unwillingness to bury the hatchett with the intelligence services just ahead of the Russian hack briefing, suggests that he will not back off his criticism of the US narrative that Russia is behind the “hacking of the election”, and confirms that Trump has every intention of continuing his crackd down on media reports, especially when it comes to what he believes are strategic leaks meant to direct the public narrative ahead of time, as the WaPo did last night.
We eagerly look forward to Trump comments, either on Twitter or elsewhere, following today’s meeting.