Barr says US government hack appears to be Russia despite Trump trying to deflect suspicion from Moscow
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Attorney General William Barr has confirmed intelligence assessments that Russia is behind the massive cyber-espionage operation against the US that Donald Trump has tried to blame on China.
Asked whether Russia was responsible for the massive SolarWinds hack, Mr Barr contradicted the president’s attempts to deflect focus for the hack away from the Kremlin.
“From the information I have, I agree with secretary [Mike] Pompeo’s assessment it certainly appears to be the Russians but I’m not going to discuss it beyond that,” Mr Barr said.
Mr Trump on Saturday contradicted his secretary of state’s assessment that Russia was “pretty clearly” behind the attack that the US’s top cybersecurity agency has wared poses a “grave” risk.
“The Cyber Hack is far greater in the Fake News Media than in actuality. I have been fully briefed and everything is well under control,” Mr Trump tweeted.
“Russia, Russia, Russia is the priority chant when anything happens because Lamestream is, for mostly financial reasons, petrified of discussing the possibility that it may be China (it may!).”
....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
