President Trump and his top advisers seem to disagree on who is to blame for the ongoing cyberattack on government and corporate computer systems – as well as on its severity.
“The cyber hack is much greater in the fake news media than in reality,” Trump said tweeted Saturday in his first public comments on the crisis, pooh-poohing’s serious assessments from his own Department of Homeland Security.
“Russia, Russia, Russia is the priority song when something happens,” he lamented, adding, “it could be China (it could!).”
That statement undermines Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who on Friday blamed the breach on Russia – the first member of the Trump administration to do so.
“This was a very important effort,” Pompeo told radio talker Mark Levin. “I think it is so that we can now say quite clearly that it was the Russians who were involved in this activity.”
Trump went on to link the computer intrusion to his persistent unproven claims of widespread fraud in last month’s presidential election, which he has not admitted – despite this week’s Electoral College vote confirming Joe Biden’s victory.
“Our ridiculous voting machines could have been hit during the election too,” he tweeted – “which is now clear that I won a lot.”