United States president-elect Donald Trump — who is otherwise known to have strong ideas and opinions on topics like climate change [He says it is a Chinese construct to harm the US] — can't seem to be able to make up his mind when it comes to allegations that Russia not only influenced the presidential election with its hacking, but also may have "compromising personal and financial information" against him, which it could leverage to influence US decisions.
For now, Trump is in denial that Russia influenced the election or has proof of his sexual transgressions in the country, but he has admitted that at least one Russian hack took place — the one that reportedly hit the Democratic National Convention (DNC) as the party decided on who among Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders would face Trump in the Presidential election.
Speaking about the DNC hack, he said: "As far as hacking, I think it was Russia. But I think we also get hacked by other countries and other people." It has been alleged that the hacking led to Clinton — who won the candidature and then went on to face Trump — being widely discredited as DNC staffers appeared to be deriding Bernie Sanders, who was a strong competitor.
The release of the emails by WikiLeaks led to Clinton being widely discredited in the mind of the electorate, which in turn is believed to have immensely helped billionaire business tycoon-turned-politician Trump get elected.
Another 'leak'
However, Trump on Wednesday talked of yet another leak, and blamed the US intelligence agencies for it. He was talking about the report on the details Russia apparently had on him that they could use to influence US decisions.
Trump blamed the US intelligence agencies for the information leaking to news outlets, saying: "It's all fake news. It's phony stuff. It didn't happen. I think it's pretty sad when intelligence reports get leaked out to the press."
While it may be true that the claims are unsubstantiated as of now, their ramifications could be devastating if they were to be true.
