Donald Trump Calls Intel Briefing on Alleged Russian Hacking 'Constructive Meeting'
— -- President-elect Donald Trump today said he received his briefing from intelligence officials on the suspected interference of Russian and other foreign entities in U.S. elections, calling it "a constructive meeting."
"While Russia, China, other countries, outside groups and people are consistently trying to break through the cyber infrastructure of our governmental institutions, businesses and organizations including the Democrat National Committee, there was absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election including the fact that there was no tampering whatsoever with voting machines. There were attempts to hack the Republican National Committee, but the RNC had strong hacking defenses and the hackers were unsuccessful," Trump said in a statement released after the session.
"Whether it is our government, organizations, associations or businesses we need to aggressively combat and stop cyberattacks.”
To that end, Trump said he will appoint a team to give him a plan within 90 days of assuming the presidency. He also said he has “tremendous respect for the work and service done by the men and women of this community to our great nation."
Trump had repeatedly cast doubt on the suspected involvement of the Russians in attempts to interfere with U.S. political institutions.
But incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer told "Good Morning America" earlier today that Trump "absolutely, 100 percent" had an open mind going into the meeting.
"I think he's prepared to listen and understand how they got to the conclusions they did," Spicer said.
"The president-elect, I think, has a healthy skepticism of everything, and that's important. People need to know that when decisions are made -- and we've seen this in the past -- that a rush to judgment is not in the country's best interest.”
During a call with reporters before the briefing, Spicer listed the members of Trump's staff who would be accompanying the president-elect at the meeting: White House chief of staff Reince Priebus; incoming National Security Adviser Michael Flynn; incoming Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland; incoming Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Thomas Bossert; and Trump's nominee for CIA director, Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan.
The group was going to be briefed by CIA Director John Brennan, NSA Director Mike Rogers, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and FBI Director James Comey, according to Spicer.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., earlier today said the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” senators were briefed on the report on Capitol Hill about alleged Russian hacking, calling the findings "stunning."
The classified report was delivered to the White House Thursday morning, according to a senior U.S. official. Obama had directed the intelligence community to produce a report reviewing malicious cyberactivity related to the presidential election cycle, including the alleged Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee.
The president also asked intelligence officials to review a pattern of malicious cyberactivity from foreign actors dating back to 2008.
The report was expected to show evidence the intelligence community has gathered to show Russia was behind the hack and release of emails and documents from the DNC, Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz said last month.
It was being crafted by senior national security and intelligence officials, including the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the CIA, the NSA and others.
ABC News' John Parkinson and Arlette Saenz contributed to this report.
