President-elect Donald Trump, who has been refusing to believe conclusions reached by the US intelligence agencies of Russian involvement in the 2016 election, has defended his belief that closer ties with Moscow would be good for Washington.
Trump's comments came one day after he received intelligence reports stating that the Russian government hacked into the Democratic Party groups and individuals during the election, and that Moscow acted to hurt Hillary Clinton's campaign to benefit Trump.
"Having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. Only 'stupid' people, or fools, would think that it is bad. We have enough problems around the world without yet another one. When I am President, Russia will respect us far more than they do now and both countries will, perhaps, work together to solve some of the many great and pressing problems and issues of the WORLD!" Trump tweeted.
On Friday, the US intelligence agency concluded a report stating that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an "influence campaign" to harm Clinton's chances of being elected president.
The campaign consisted of hacking Democrats, including Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, before releasing that information through third-party websites, including WikiLeaks.
The intelligence report cited "a significant escalation" in longtime Russian efforts to undermine the American democratic process.
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Trump, however, has been insisting that Russia did not rig the election results.
On Saturday, Trump tweeted, "Intelligence stated very strongly there was absolutely no evidence that hacking affected the election results. Voting machines not touched."
Trump said Democrats are focusing on the hacking so intensely out of embarrassment.
"Only reason the hacking of the poorly defended DNC is discussed is that the loss by the Dems was so big that they are totally embarrassed," he tweeted.
Trump has repeatedly said he wants to soften the relationship between the US and Russia and has quite often praised Putin's leadership skills.
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