Trump Vows Hacking Response

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said he’ll seek a plan to “aggressively combat and stop cyberattacks“ after meeting with intelligence agency chiefs whose conclusions he has openly questioned for months, according to Bloomberg.

“I had a constructive meeting and conversation with the leaders of the Intelligence Community this afternoon,“ Trump said in a statement following a briefing by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, FBI Director James Comey and Central Intelligence Agency chief John Brennan Friday in New York. He said he’ll demand a plan on how to counter cyberattacks within 90 days of taking office on Jan. 20.

Trump emphasized that hacking during the 2016 campaign, which disproportionately affected the Democratic Party and which the intelligence community has blamed on senior Russian officials, didn’t affect the election results because voting machines weren’t breached. His comments come one day after his criticism of intelligence agencies was rebuffed on Capitol Hill by Clapper and other intelligence chiefs speaking to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“While Russia, China, other countries, outside groups and people are consistently trying to break through the cyber infrastructure of our governmental institutions, businesses and organizations including the Democrat National Committee, there was absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election including the fact that there was no tampering whatsoever with voting machines,“ Trump said.