Hoekstra downplays Trump’s resistance to intelligence as ‘healthy’ skepticism

Former Rep. Pete Hoekstra, an adviser to Donald Trump’s transition team, tried on Thursday to downplay the president-elect’s refusal to accept the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia meddled in the election as “healthy” skepticism.

While Hoekstra, a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN that “the words that come out of the intelligence community mean a lot,” he called on the officials to brief Congress on their Russia conclusions and offer a “clearer definition” of their findings.


Unlike Trump, however, Hoekstra did not dismiss intelligence officials’ consensus that Russia is responsible for the hacks on Democratic Party officials that embarrassed Hillary Clinton’s campaign. But the former congressman portrayed Trump as being similar to him and having an open mind on the matter.

“I think it's very, very healthy for the president, I think it's healthy for the intelligence community, to be skeptical and put pressure on the intelligence community to make sure that they put forward great information,” Hoekstra said. “You know, again, them not being willing to brief Congress, I would be greatly concerned about what they're saying and the information that they're leaking out to the public if they're not even willing to brief Congress.”

Trump’s refusal to acknowledge the Russians’ involvement in the hacking despite the conclusion of intelligence officials has baffled and alarmed some members of both parties. Republican hawks such as Sens. Lindsey Graham and John McCain have been loud in calling for an investigation into Russia’s attempts to influence the election.

On Wednesday, Graham, on tour in the Baltics with McCain and Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, reiterated his stance and argued that lawmakers should and would move to sanction Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, in response.

“I predict there will be bipartisan sanctions coming that will hit Russia hard, particularly Putin as an individual,” Graham told reporters in Latvia.

On Thursday, though, Hoekstra denied that Trump is “battling” Graham and other Republican senators on the issue.

“Lindsey is laying out a process that I think is kind of very similar to what I laid out, is they're going to hold the hearings,” Hoekstra said. “They're going to find out exactly what the Russians did. Then they're going to go through the legislative process. They’re going to develop sanctions, and they're going to coordinate that activity with Donald Trump. And so, it's, again, it's the way the system works.”

Hoekstra did acknowledge some differences between the senators and Trump, but suggested the lawmakers might need to meet him halfway.

“Lindsey and Sen. McCain, I have a tremendous amount of respect for both of them. They're moving in one direction,” Hoekstra said. “Donald Trump may not be totally on board with where they're going but ultimately they're going to have to work together, because neither one of them will get what they want if they don't have a dialogue and if they don't come to some agreement.”