When U.S. President Donald Trump said in Poland that it is not just Russia but also other countries that were involved in election meddling in the U.S., he did not name these other nations that allegedly interfered. White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, it appears, knows those other countries.
Priebus named the countries as North Korea and China which point to communist states as purveyors of election hacking. The chief of staff, however, failed to provide evidence why he named Beijing and Pyongyang when “Fox Sunday News” host Chris Wallace asked Priebus for more details.
Not absolving Russia
Although Russian President Vladimir Putin denied that Moscow had a hand in hacking the U.S. 2016 Election, Priebus said it does not mean Trump does not believe the Russians did not meddle. The White House eventually clarified that Priebus meant China and North Korea were involved in hacking generally, but not in election manipulation in 2016, The New York Daily News report. The two countries have long histories of malicious cyber activity directed at American institutions, including industry, government, and educational institutions.
Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with Russian lawyer
Meanwhile, the White House chief of staff believes it was Democrats who arranged the meeting between Donald Trump Jr.
and two other members of the Trump campaign in 2016 and Kremlin lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. Donald Jr. initially said the meeting on June 9 was to discuss a program on the adoption of Russian children by Russian families, but he eventually revised his story after the son of the president was confronted by The New York Times.
Donald Jr. admitted they agreed to meet her after a go-between said Veselnitskaya has dirt on Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate. Priebus linked the liaison to be associated with Fusion GS, a strategy firm in Washington. The company was behind a leaked intelligence dossier that hinted materials in the hands of Russian officials they could use against Republican candidate Donald Trump.
His rivals in the GOP reportedly funded the research, but it was allegedly continued with support from the Democrats, Huffington Post reported.
Mark Corallo, a spokesman for lawyers of the president, claimed that based on their investigation and public reports, the person who arranged the meeting is linked with Fusion GPS. Priebus told “Fox News Sunday” the meeting was very short and lasted only for 20 minutes.