Page 2 - ARUBA TODAY

A2 UP FRONT
Thursday 5 January 2017
Who hacked? Trump challenges intel agencies he’ll oversee

JULIE PACE can lawmakers.
EILEEN SULLIVAN Trump is to be briefed on
Associated Press the hacking report Friday
WASHINGTON (AP) — Pres- by CIA Director John Bren-
ident-elect Donald Trump nan, FBI Director James
on Wednesday escalated Comey and Director of Na-
his blunt public challenge tional Intelligence James
to the U.S. intelligence Clapper. Brennan, in an
agencies he will soon over- interview Tuesday with PBS
see, appearing to em- NewsHour, said the report
brace WikiLeaks founder will include “what was col-
Julian Assange’s conten- lected, what was disclosed
tion that Russia did not and what the purpose and
provide his group with the intent of that effort was.”
hacked Democratic emails Clapper is testifying on
that roiled the 2016 elec- Capitol Hill Thursday. But
tion. he could be limited in what
Trump’s defiance has in- he can say about the re-
creased the pressure on port’s conclusions given
intelligence officials to pro- that Trump — and perhaps
vide decisive evidence of Obama — may not have
Russian election interfer- been briefed by that time.
ence. A full report was or- Indisputable evidence of
dered by President Barack In this Dec. 28, 2016 file photo, President-elect Donald Trump speaks to reporters at Mar-a-Lago responsibility for hacking is
Obama last month, and in Palm Beach, Fla. difficult to come by and of-
Obama will receive the Associated Press ten technical. The informa-
report and be briefed on cies’ assessment. But the put him in line with Russian mittee and John Podesta, tion the administration has
it Thursday, according to administration has so far re- President Vladimir Putin a top aide to Democrat released so far does not
a White House official who leased only limited informa- and Assange, whose or- Hillary Clinton. lend itself to firm conclu-
wasn’t authorized to speak tion to support that conclu- ganization has been under Vice President-elect Mike sions.
to reporters and requested sion. And in the absence of criminal investigation for its Pence commended Trump The most recent informa-
anonymity. High-level intel- such public evidence, the role in classified information for his “very sincere and tion has come from a joint
ligence officials are head- president-elect has seized leaks. Since 2012, Assange healthy American skepti- analysis by the Homeland
ing to New York Friday to on some Americans’ skep- has been in the Embassy of cism.” Security Department and
brief Trump on the classified ticism of U.S. intelligence in Ecuador in London, unable “Given some of the intel- the FBI that ties Russian
findings. general, citing high-profile to leave without being ar- ligence failures of recent government activities to
The Obama administra- missteps that led to the Iraq rested for breaching his bail years, the president-elect’s the hacks of the DNC and
tion also plans to make an war. conditions. made it clear to the Ameri- others.
unclassified version public But this Trump campaign Taking to Twitter on can people that he’s skep- The analysis includes a list
before the president leaves has so far been a lonely one Wednesday, Trump noted tical of conclusions from of internet addresses iden-
office Jan. 20. in Washington. His views put that Assange “said Russians the bureaucracy, and I tified by the administration
Russia not only meddled in him at odds with Obama did not give him the info” think the American people as potentially tied to Rus-
the election, but did so to and leaders in his own par- — referring to the trove hear him loud and clear,” sian hackers.
help Trump win, according ty who see Moscow as a of emails stolen from the Pence said after a meeting Many other addresses are
to the intelligence agen- growing threat. And they Democratic National Com- on Capitol Hill with Republi- untraceable. q

GOP Sen. Rand Paul blasts party leaders for ignoring debt

ANDREW TAYLOR current fiscal year — be- Obamacare — the party’s
Associated Press cause it endorses an al- top priority under a uni-
WASHINGTON (AP) — Re- most $10 trillion increase in fied GOP government led
publican Sen. Rand Paul on the national debt over the by Trump — without fear
Wednesday blasted fellow coming decade. of a Democratic filibuster.
GOP lawmakers for ignor- “The more things change, First comes passage of the
ing the government’s spi- the more they seem to stay budget measure, which in
raling debt problem in their the same,” Paul said in a this case is simply a “shell”
rush to repeal President scathing speech from the measure that avoid difficult
Barack Obama’s health Senate floor. “What will the decisions on spending and
care law. first order of business be for debt.
Paul, who hails from the the new Republican major- Paul was having none of
GOP’s small-government, ity? To pass a budget that that.
libertarian wing, was the never balances, to pass a “I was told again and
sole Republican to oppose budget that will add $9.7 again, ‘Swallow it, take it,
party leaders and Presi- trillion in new debt over 10 they’re just numbers. Don’t
dent-elect Donald Trump years. Is that really what we worry, it’s not really a bud- Vice President Joe Biden administers the Senate oath of office to
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., with his wife Kelley Paul, holding a bible,
on a 51-48 procedural campaigned on? Is that re- get,’” Paul said. “If they’re during a mock swearing in ceremony in the Old Senate Cham-
vote that’s a precursor to ally what the Republican only numbers ... why don’t ber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017.
upcoming legislation to re- Party represents?” we put numbers in that bal- Associated Press
peal the law. At issue is the convoluted ance?”
The Kentucky senator op- budget-related process Paul told reporters later, policy.” cit in earnest later in the
poses the measure — a that Republicans have “I frankly think the debt is Paul said GOP leaders year with action on a fiscal
budget blueprint for the to go through to repeal more important than any promise to turn to the defi- 2018 budget plan. q