Trump: Focus on Russian Hacking of US Election 'Political Witch Hunt'

US President-elect Donald Trump called the focus on alleged Russian cyber interference in the 2016 US election "a political witch hunt."

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The current focus on Russian cyber interference in the 2016 US election is a political witch hunt, US President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview on Friday.

"China, relatively recently, hacked 20 million government names," Trump stated in an interview with The New York Times. "How come nobody even talks about that? This is a political witch hunt."

The hacking incident Trump is referring to that involved China occurred in 2014 and 2015, and was a breach of the computers at the US Office of Personnel Management.

This statement from Trump comes ahead of his afternoon briefing with the chiefs of the US intelligence community about a report on Russian interference in the 2016 US election, as well as hacking related to previous elections and by other actors.

Russian officials have called the US allegations of election interference absurd and intended to deflect US public opinion from revelations of corruption and other pressing domestic concerns.