Donald Trump’s team maintains there is no evidence that Russia hackings favored him in the presidential race, but a top adviser also said the President-elect would not “interfere” in any congressional investigations into what happened.
Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway told CNN’s Anderson Cooper Monday that Trump remains unconvinced that any breaches were part of an attempt to push Trump into the White House. She charged that media reports of a Russia-directed attempt to boost the GOP nominee were based on unnamed sources and were unproven and partisan.
“This smells like politics, plain and simple,” she said. “We in the Trump presidency do not want foreign governments interfering in our elections. That’s very clear. We don’t want intelligence interfering in our politics. But we also certainly do not want what we have now, which is politics interfering in our intelligence.”
Conway nevertheless said that Trump “absolutely” wanted to understand what occurred and that he would not meddle with attempts by the outgoing Obama administration or on Capitol Hill to look more closely at what precisely Russia did to influence the presidential race.
“He won’t interfere with an investigation. He’s the President of the United States. The legislature can do what it wants,” she said.
Conway also confirmed that Trump is delaying his anticipated news conference where he is expected to explain how he will remove himself from his company’s operations. Conway portrayed the details of the arrangement to be legally complicated and said they simply needed more time.
“The same questions that will be asked and the same answers that will be provided. It will just be delayed a few weeks,” she said. “Everybody wants to make sure they get it right.”