President-elect Donald Trump answered questions at Mar-a-Lago as boxing luminary Don King stood next to him Wednesday. | AP Photo Trump downplays Russian election interference, doubles down on Israel

President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday evening urged congressional lawmakers to move past the reported Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race while also doubling down on his defense of Israel.

Asked about Sen. Lindsey Graham’s pledge to pursue sanctions against Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin, over repeated cybersecurity breaches during the campaign, Trump stressed the need to move forward.


“I think we ought to get on with our lives,” the president-elect said during an impromptu exchange with reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort, with boxing luminary Don King standing next to Trump as he answered questions.

“I think computers have complicated our lives very greatly. The whole age of computer has made it where nobody knows exactly what is going on.”

Trump said he has yet to discuss the sanctions with senators but that he “certainly will be over a period of time.”

Of speaking with Graham, Trump remarked: “Haven't spoken to him — as you know he ran against me.”

The president-elect also addressed his recent pledge to shift American foreign policy toward Israel following the Obama administration’s decision to allow a United Nations resolution rebuking Israeli settlements in the West Bank to pass.

“If you look at what's happened, they are up for 20 reprimands, and other nations that are horrible places, horrible places that treat people horribly, haven't even been reprimanded,” Trump said. “So there is something going on, and I think it is very unfair to Israel.”

Trump also shifted to a more conciliatory tone on President Barack Obama, praising the presidential transition process he’d previously scorned as going along “very, very smoothly.”

Trump told reporters he had recently shared a “very nice call” with Obama that “covered a lot of territory.”

"Our staffs are getting along very well,” the president-elect said. “And I'm getting along very well with him, other than a couple of statements that I responded to and we talked about it and smiled about it.”

Trump also fired back against questions about potential conflicts of interest over his sprawling business empire, faulting the media for turning it into an issue.

“It is not a big deal,” he said. “You people are making that a big deal, the business.”

Trump touted his empire as a "great business" and claimed the conflicts are a non-issue since "they all knew I had a big business all over the place" prior to the election.

The president-elect, who earlier this month canceled a planned Dec. 15 news conference to address the conflicts, said it will now be happening "sometime in early January."