A meeting with intelligence officials that President-elect Donald Trump said was delayed was always scheduled for Friday, NBC News reported.
Trump tweeted Tuesday night that a planned intelligence briefing on Russian hacking, previously expected to take place early this week, was pushed back to Friday.
The president-elect insinuated that the meeting was delayed because intelligence agencies don’t have enough evidence to prove Russia’s involvement in influencing the 2016 presidential election.
“The ‘Intelligence’ briefing on so-called ‘Russian hacking’ was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!” Trump tweeted.
{mosads}A senior U.S. intelligence official told NBC News the briefing was “always” scheduled for Friday and that Trump was incorrect.
Trump announced last Friday that he would take an intelligence briefing to discuss the latest findings on Russian hacks, after the White House issued sanctions against Russia, expelled 35 Russian officials and shuttered two sites believed to be used for Russian intelligence purposes.
Trump’s team has said it takes hacking and election interference seriously, but that it is still uncertain about Russia’s role in cyberattacks on Democratic groups and their motives.
“I think it’s unfair if they don’t know. And I know a lot about hacking. And hacking is a very hard thing to prove. So it could be somebody else,” Trump said last week.
“I also know things that other people don’t know, and so they cannot be sure of the situation,” Trump said when asked why he doubts intelligence reports of Russian hacking, according to a pool reporter.
When asked what Trump knows that other people don’t know, Trump responded, “You’ll find out on Tuesday or Wednesday.”