Ever since Donald Trump defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton to become the new president-elect, there's been a constant cloud of controversy hanging over his victory. In recent weeks, various sources have confirmed that Russia hacked the election in favor of Trump, but the president-elect is still pushing back.
Trump on Twitter
Even before his election win, Donald Trump had been forced to deal with criticism from the media who found links between his campaign and Russia.
During the year and a half that he was running for president, Trump always made sure to avoid any criticism of the Kremlin, often praising controversial Russian President Vladimir Putin on more than one occasion. In the weeks since Election Day, the CIA and FBI have both confirmed Russia's involvement with the hacking of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), information that has since been backed up by the White House. Trump continues to dismiss all the evidence, which continued on his Twitter account on January 7.
"Having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. Only "stupid" people, or fools, would think that it is bad!" Donald Trump wrote on Twitter Saturday morning.
In a pair of follow-up tweets, the billionaire real estate mogul continued his rant.
"We have enough problems around the world without yet another one," Trump wrote, before adding, "When I am President, Russia will respect us far more than they do now and both countries will, perhaps, work together to solve some of the many great and pressing problems and issues of the WORLD!"
Moving forward
On Friday, Donald Trump met with several members of the intelligence community, including FBI Director James Comey and CIA Director James Brennan. The former host of "The Apprentice" was given the latest up to date information that showed Russia not only hacked the DNC, but did so with the goal of hurting Hillary Clinton's chances in the election.
Despite this, Trump released a statement that denied the hack had an impact on his victory. With Trump officially heading to the White House in just over two weeks, it appears that the United States' relationship with Russia will take a drastic turn.