Transition Briefing
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER, JEREMY W. PETERS and AMY CHOZICK
December 12, 2016
■ The Clinton campaign breaks its silence and demands declassification of the intelligence on Russian election meddling.
■ Donald J. Trump takes to Twitter to deny Russian involvement in his victory.
■ Senator John McCain says there is no doubt about Russian hacking, which he called “warfare.”
The Run-Up
The podcast that makes sense of the most delirious stretch of the 2016 campaign.
■ Carly Fiorina for director of national intelligence? She certainly took the president-elect’s line on China.
Clinton campaign demands declassification of election intelligence.
As the swirl of allegations around Russia’s efforts to elect Mr. Trump roils Washington, one voice has been absent: Hillary Clinton’s.
John D. Podesta, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign chairman, broke the silence on her behalf, demanding the declassification of all information about Russia’s meddling as well as an explanation from the Obama administration of what it knew and when it knew it.
“We now know that the C.I.A. has determined Russia’s interference in our elections was for the purpose of electing Donald Trump,” Mr. Podesta wrote in a statement. “This should distress every American. Never before in the history of our republic have we seen such an effort to undermine the bedrock of our democracy.”
“This is not a partisan issue, and we are glad to see bipartisan support in the Congress for an investigation into Russia’s role,” he continued. “We believe that the administration owes it to the American people to explain what it knows regarding the extent and manner of Russia’s interference and this be done as soon as possible. To that end, we also support the request from members of the Senate Intelligence Committee to declassify information around Russia’s roles in the election and to make this data available to the public.”
Thrown on the defensive, Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said on Monday that the White House did not announce a major probe of Russia’s interference before the election partly because many voters would have seen such an announcement as political meddling.
He said Russia did not hack the electoral process or the counting of votes.
“But what is also clear is that the results of the hack and leak effort carried out on the orders of Russia were extensively discussed prior to the election,” Mr. Earnest said.
Trump continues Russia denial — via Twitter.
With evidence mounting that Russian intelligence promoted his election, the president-elect continued his denial, via Twitter.
That second post is a head scratcher. The United States government formally accused Russia of trying to sow discord in the democratic process through its hacking in early October. It stopped short of saying the goal was to elect Mr. Trump.
And forensic analysis does allow experts to trace the source of a hack.
Oh, and fresh off his shot at Boeing over the cost of an Air Force One upgrade, Mr. Trump took a jab at another expensive military program, the F-35 stealth fighter.
On that one, he will have bipartisan support — just not in congressional districts where the fighter is built.
Wide-ranging investigation of Russian meddling ahead, McCain says.
Mr. McCain said on Monday that there was “no doubt about the hacking” by Russian intelligence services into Democratic campaign accounts, which he called “another form of warfare.”
Appearing on “CBS This Morning” with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the next minority leader, Mr. McCain said the wide-ranging investigation of Russian meddling in the election would include his committee as well as the Foreign Relations and Intelligence committees.
He said a Senate investigation would be necessary despite President Obama having already ordered up an inquiry, as that one would not be completed before the end of the Obama administration. The implication was that the new Trump administration would not follow through.
“We don’t want to point a finger, and I don’t want this to turn into the Benghazi investigation,” Mr. Schumer added, referring to the House investigation into the attacks on an American compound in Libya, which he said had been partisan. “This is serious stuff.”
Electoral College voters demand their own briefing.
One week before the Electoral College meets to ratify Mr. Trump’s election victory, 10 electors — including a Texas Republican who has turned on Mr. Trump, and Christine Pelosi, the daughter of Representative Nancy Pelosi — have demanded their own intelligence briefing on Russian efforts to elect Mr. Trump.
“We intend to discharge our duties as electors by ensuring that we select a candidate for president who, as our founding fathers envisioned, would be ‘endowed with the requisite qualifications.’ As electors, we also believe that deliberation is at the heart of democracy itself, not an empty or formalistic task. We do not understand our sole function to be to convene in mid-December, several weeks after Election Day, and summarily cast our votes.”
Their request:
“The Electors require to know from the intelligence community whether there are ongoing investigations into ties between Donald Trump, his campaign or associates, and Russian government interference in the election, the scope of those investigations, how far those investigations may have reached, and who was involved in those investigations. We further require a briefing on all investigative findings, as these matters directly impact the core factors in our deliberations of whether Mr. Trump is fit to serve as president of the United States.
Additionally, the electors will separately require from Donald Trump conclusive evidence that he and his staff and advisers did not accept Russian interference, or otherwise collaborate during the campaign, and conclusive disavowal and repudiation of such collaboration and interference going forward.”
Carly Fiorina meets with Trump and calls out China.
Ms. Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, emerged from a meeting with the president-elect at Trump Tower on Monday to talk tough, not on Russia but on China, which she called “our most important adversary and a rising adversary.”
Ms. Fiorina was called in to discuss the job of director of national intelligence, a senior transition official said.
And Ms. Fiorina, once a bitter foe of Mr. Trump’s was effusive.
“We talked about hacking, whether it’s Chinese hacking or purported Russian hacking,” she said. “We talked about the opportunity that the president-elect has to literally reset things, to reset the trajectory of this economy, to reset the role of government, to reset america’s role in the world and how we’re perceived in the world. And I think it’s why he’s getting such fantastic people in his administration.”
Mr. Trump and Ms. Fiorina clashed bitterly when she ran against him for the Republican nomination. Mr. Trump denigrated her appearance last year in an interview with Rolling Stone, saying, “Look at that face!” Ms. Fiorina briefly agreed to be Senator Ted Cruz’s vice-presidential running mate before he, too, was vanquished by the eventual nominee.
All appears to be forgiven.
“First I want to say, he has really cool stuff in his office,” she said. “All of these athletes have given him all this incredible memorabilia. I was particular taken by Shaq O’Neal’s shoe, which is huge. I guess it takes a champion to know a champion.”
Why is Allen West at Trump Tower?
Three days ago, an image calling for the extermination of Muslims was posted on former Representative Allen West’s Facebook page.
The outrage prompted an aide to Mr. West, a former Army lieutenant colonel, to claim credit and take the image down.
“Message to our followers: Hello everyone. This is Michele Hickford, editor in chief of allenbwest.com. Last night I posted a meme without Col. West’s knowledge or consent which was inappropriate and crossed the line. I take full responsibility for this. It was wrong. I was wrong. It does not reflect Col. West’s beliefs. I (Michele Hickford) personally apologize for any offense caused — and especially to Col. West. to whom I apologize for adversely affecting his reputation, principles and values.”
The outrage wasn’t too great to deny Mr. West another audience with the president-elect on Monday at Trump Tower. Nor was it enough to prompt a question from the reporters in the Trump Tower lobby, though they did ask Mr. West about Russian efforts to elect Mr. Trump president.
Reporters: Should there be a bipartisan investigation of Russia hacking?
Mr. West: “I think there are more important things. We’re about to see a collapse in Syria, Iraq is falling apart. the Iran nuclear deal is horrific. China and Russia are expanding. I think that’s where we need to focus your intelligence efforts.”
John Kelly formally tapped to head homeland security.
No surprise here, but Mr. Trump formally selected the retired Gen. John F. Kelly of the Marines to be his secretary of homeland security on Monday.
“Gen. John Kelly’s decades of military service and deep commitment to fighting the threat of terrorism inside our borders makes him the ideal choice to serve as our secretary of the Department of Homeland Security,” Mr. Trump said. “He is the right person to spearhead the urgent mission of stopping illegal immigration and securing our borders, streamlining T.S.A. and improving coordination between our intelligence and law enforcement agencies. With General Kelly at the helm of D.H.S., the American people will have a leader committed to our safety as well as one who will work hand in -hand with America’s rank-and-file T.S.A., ICE and Border Patrol officers.”
General Kelly would have the delicate job of seeing through Mr. Trump’s campaign promises of building a wall on the border with Mexico and deporting millions of illegal immigrants — or not, depending on what a President Trump and Congress actually want.
No doubt thankfully, he would not have the job of making Mexico pay for said wall.
Rick Perry is considered for energy secretary.
Speaking of roles, the former Texas governor, Rick Perry, who wanted to eliminate the Department of Energy but could not remember its name on live television, has emerged as a leading candidate for energy secretary.
Rick Perry ‘Oops’
Video by Matt Lewis
Although Texas is rich in energy and Mr. Perry is big on extracting it, he cannot afford too many “oops moments” if he is named to that post.
The Energy Department’s primary role is to design nuclear weapons and ensure the safety and reliability of the nation’s aging nuclear arsenal — through a constellation of scientific laboratories. The two men who served as President Obama’s energy secretaries were scientists, one with a Nobel Prize, the other from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Mr. Trump is also looking at two other possibilities for energy secretary. He likes Senators Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota — both Democrats — for the job. Both are under tremendous pressure from fellow Democrats not to accept a cabinet job.
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