President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York, Wednesday, Jan. 11. | AP Photo Trump says would be 'tremendous blot' on intelligence community if they leaked allegations

Donald Trump began his long-awaited press conference Wednesday morning by slamming reports that intelligence officials last week presented him with a summary of unverified allegations that Russia has compromising information on him, warning that it would be a “tremendous blot” on the record of the intelligence community if an official leaked those allegations.

The press conference was originally intended to give Trump a platform from which to outline how he will separate his incoming administration from his significant business holdings. But Trump felt compelled to first address the reports from CNN and BuzzFeed, and other outlets, citing unsubstantiated claims that his campaign conspired with the Russian government and that the Kremlin possesses salacious, compromising information about him.


“I do have to say that, and I must say that I want to thank a lot of the news organizations here today because they looked at that nonsense that was released by maybe the intelligence agencies, who knows, but maybe the intelligence agencies, which would be a tremendous blot on their record if they in fact did that, a tremendous blot,” Trump said in his introductory remarks. “Because a thing like that should have never been written, it should never been had and it should certainly never have been released.”

Worthy of note was Trump’s admission for the first time that the Russian government was indeed responsible for the wave of election-year hacking that targeted the Democratic National Committee and other high-level Democratic officials. Before Wednesday, he had been unwilling to concede the consensus assessment of the intelligence community that the Kremlin was behind the attacks, suggesting instead that it could have been China or a lone-wolf hacker.

But even after admitting Russia’s culpability, Trump seemingly suggested that the ends – the publication of emails indicating Hillary Clinton had been given Democratic primary debate questions in advance – justified the cyberattack means.

“Remember this. We talk about the hacking and hacking's bad. And it shouldn't be done. But look at the things that were hacked,” he said. “Look at what was learned from that hacking, that Hillary Clinton got the questions to the debate and didn't report it? That's a horrible thing. That's a horrible thing.”

Trump told reporters that he had read the unverified intelligence, but that he had seen it outside the setting of a classified briefing, contradicting a CNN report that said a two-page synopsis of larger dossier had been included in his briefing last week. He called it those reports “fake news,” “phony stuff” and an “absolute disgrace,” the work of “opponents of ours” who “put that crap together.”

The reports from CNN and especially BuzzFeed prompted some condemnation, critical of the two outlets for publishing unverified information.

“I want to thank a lot of the news organizations, some of whom have not treated me very well over the years, a couple in particular, and they came out so strongly against that fake news and the fact that it was written about by primarily one group and one television station,” Trump said. “So I just want to compliment many of the people in the room. I have a great respect for the news and great respect for freedom of the press and all of that. But I will tell you, there were some news organizations, with all that was just said, that were so professional, so incredibly professional, that I've just gone up a notch as to what I think of you, okay?”

