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The White House is sharply criticizing President-elect Donald Trump for his response to allegations of Russian interference in the U.S. election.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest says Trump should stop attacking the U.S. intelligence community. He says instead, Trump should be supporting the investigation into what occurred that President Barack Obama has ordered.

READ MORE: Donald Trump says reports Russia helped him win election ‘just another excuse’

1:00 Trump calls ‘ridiculous’ reports Russia helped him in U.S. election Trump calls ‘ridiculous’ reports Russia helped him in U.S. election

Trump’s transition team has complained that the White House has suggested Trump knew during the campaign that Russia was trying to interfere. But Earnest says its “obvious” Trump knew and that it’s a fact.

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He’s also disputing Trump’s claim that he was joking when he encouraged Russia to find Hillary Clinton’s emails. Earnest says nobody in the White House, Congress or the intelligence community found it “funny” that a U.S. adversary was trying to “destabilize our democracy.”

READ MORE: Did Russia hack the US presidential election? Here’s what we know

On Thursday morning, Trump questioned the timing of the Russian hacking accusations by federal officials, and stated Russia’s involvement was only being raised as a possibility due to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s loss.

“Why did the White House wait so long to act?” Trump tweeted, in part.

If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 15, 2016

Meanwhile, the Kremlin insists Russian President Vladimir Putin had no role in Trump’s presidential victory, and denied a report that Putin personally directed how hacked data from U.S. Democrats was used during the election.

READ MORE: Why did the polls fail to predict a Donald Trump presidency?

NBC News on Wednesday quoted U.S. intelligence officials as saying that Putin “became personally involved in the covert Russian campaign.”

WATCH: White House supports congressional review of Russian hacking

0:45 White House supports congressional review of Russian hacking White House supports congressional review of Russian hacking

Asked about the report, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday dismissed it as “laughable nonsense.”

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Russia, blamed by the CIA for helping President-elect Donald Trump in last month’s U.S. presidential election, has vehemently denied accusations that it orchestrated hackers to work against Clinton.

2:17 Sources tell CBS news they believe Vladimir Putin approved of Russian hacking of U.S. election Sources tell CBS news they believe Vladimir Putin approved of Russian hacking of U.S. election

With files from Global News