The chairman of the House Committee on Intelligence, Democrat Adam Schiff, has blasted President Donald Trump in an interview with MSNBC over POTUS’ alleged downplaying of Russia's supposed role in the recent cyberattacks on the US government and pointing the finger at China instead.
"It [is] just uniformly destructive and deceitful, and injurious [...] to our national security", Schiff said, commenting the president's earlier tweets on the matter.
Schiff went on to claim that he does not "think there's any question" that Russia was behind the massive hack, the impact (if any) of which on government computer networks remains unclear.
Lawmakers and Secretary of State Disagree With President on Culprit of Hacks
The statements by the Intelligence Committee chief go in line with similar claims made by the Senate Intelligence Committee’s head, Republican Marco Rubio, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, both of whom have accused Moscow of the cyberattacks, with both also failing to present any evidence to support their claims.
The methods used to carry out the cyberhack are consistent with Russian cyber operations.
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) December 18, 2020
But it’s crucial we have complete certainty about who is behind this.
We can’t afford to be wrong on attribution, because America must retaliate, and not just with sanctions.
Rubio claimed that the methods used to carry out the attack were "consistent with Russian cyber operations", although it is not clear whether Rubio, or Schiff for that matter, has been briefed on the attack. Pompeo vaguely stated that he could "say pretty clearly" that Moscow participated in the cyber intrusion.
Russia, in turn, has strongly denied involvement. President Vladimir Putin noted during his major 17 December press conference that, as is customary with the "Russia did it" accusations, the new claims against the Kremlin are unsubstantiated. He further suggested that the theory that Russia was behind the hacks was being peddled in the US media by the very people who groundlessly accused the Kremlin of interfering in the 2016 US election.
....discussing the possibility that it may be China (it may!). There could also have been a hit on our ridiculous voting machines during the election, which is now obvious that I won big, making it an even more corrupted embarrassment for the USA. @DNI_Ratcliffe @SecPompeo
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 19, 2020
US President Donald Trump also expressed doubt about Russia's alleged role in the cyberattacks on the government, suggesting that the anti-Russia narrative has been peddled by the "Lamestream media". He suggested an alternative theory, mulling that China might have been responsible for the attacks, although failed to elaborate on what led him to that assumption.
