President-elect Donald Trump released a statement Friday after his much-anticipated meeting with intelligence officials to discuss the intelligence community's report on Russian election-related hacking, calling the meeting constructive.
"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 [sic] 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," he said in the statement. "There were attempts to hack the Republican National Committee, but the RNC had strong hacking defenses and the hackers were unsuccessful."
Trump said he would appoint a team to provide him with a plan, within 90 days of his inauguration later this month, to "aggressively combat and stop cyberattacks."
"Whether it is our government, organizations, associations, or businesses, we need to aggressively combat and stop cyberattacks," he wrote. "I will appoint a team to give me a plan within 90 days of taking office. The methods, tools and tactics we use to keep America safe should not be a public discussion that will benefit those who seek to do us harm. Two weeks from today I will take the oath of office and America's safety and security will be my number one priority."
On Thursday night, NBC's Hallie Jackson reported that the intelligence briefing, also presented to President Barack Obama on Thursday, detailed Russian cyberattacks against the Democratic National Committee, the White House, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the State Department, and American companies. Some hacks were successful, while others were not.
Intelligence officials said in the briefing that the Russian motive was to disrupt the democratic process in the election and that the hacking also served as "payback" for the Obama administration questioning Russian President Vladimir Putin's legitimacy, according to NBC.
The report traced Russian cyberactivity in the previous two presidential elections as well, according to NBC. It did not make an assessment on whether Russian hacking affected the outcome of the 2016 presidential race.
Also on Thursday, The Washington Post reported that intelligence officials picked up senior Russian officials celebrating Trump's victory and that go-betweens worked to turn over emails belonging to Democratic operatives and organizations from hackers to the website WikiLeaks.
Earlier Friday, Trump said he wanted Congress to investigate how NBC got its hands on the intelligence community's report on Russian election-related hacking before he saw 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," he posted.
Trump had posted on Thursday, after NBC's on-air report of the intelligence findings, that the news network received a copy of the document because of "politics."
"How did NBC get 'an exclusive look into the top secret report he (Obama) was presented?'" Trump wrote. "Who gave them this report and why? Politics!"
After WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity earlier this week, Trump repeated Assange's denial that Russia provided WikiLeaks with the hacked information.
"Julian Assange said 'a 14-year-old could have hacked Podesta' — why was DNC so careless?" Trump tweeted. "Also said Russians did not give him the info!"
WikiLeaks also chimed in on Friday, saying NBC was able to view the briefing because of "political reasons."
"The Obama admin/CIA is illegally funneling TOP SECRET//COMINT information to NBC for political reasons before PEOTUS even gets to read it," the website, infamous for releasing hacked and leaked documents, posted on Twitter.
Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, questioned why Trump wanted to investigate the NBC report.
"Of all issues implicated by Russian active measures, this is what you want to investigate?" he tweeted. "This is your top priority for intel committees?"
Both Republicans and Democrats have called for action against Russia after the hacking. Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John McCain of Arizona have been two of the loudest voices on that front. After the Obama administration announced new sanctions on Russia last week, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released statements that both criticized Russia and said Obama had not been hard enough on the Russian government in previous years.
Russia has repeatedly denied involvement in the election-related hacks, and Trump has refused to acknowledge any Russian involvement.
Last week, he said that it was time for the US to move on to "bigger and better" things but that he would nevertheless meet with intelligence officials to discuss the hacking. This weekend, he said he knew things about the hacking that no one else did and would reveal them Tuesday or Wednesday, but he did not provide further information.
On Tuesday, Trump tweeted: "The 'intelligence' briefing on so-called 'Russian hacking' was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!"
Intelligence officials pushed back on his tweet, saying the briefing was always supposed to be held Friday.
Read Trump's full statement:
"I had a constructive meeting and conversation with the leaders of the intelligence community this afternoon. I have tremendous respect for the work and service done by the men and women of this community to our great nation.
"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. There were attempts to hack the Republican National Committee, but the RNC had strong hacking defenses and the hackers were unsuccessful.
"Whether it is our government, organizations, associations, or businesses, we need to aggressively combat and stop cyberattacks. I will appoint a team to give me a plan within 90 days of taking office. The methods, tools, and tactics we use to keep America safe should not be a public discussion that will benefit those who seek to do us harm. Two weeks from today I will take the oath of office and America's safety and security will be my number one priority."
