Lindsey Graham: Trump citing Assange on hacking 'very disturbing'

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a leading Republican critic of Donald Trump’s refusal to accept that Russian hackers meddled in the presidential election, said Wednesday that “it’s very disturbing” that the president-elect is citing WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange to justify his skepticism.

Graham, speaking to CNN late Wednesday morning, reiterated that he has “no doubt” that Russia is behind the hacks on Democratic Party officials’ emails during the campaign and torched Assange, whose website published the messages.


The emails repeatedly embarrassed Hillary Clinton, and U.S. intelligence officials say that Russia hacked them to disrupt the election, some believe in an attempt to help Trump.

“Mr. Assange is a fugitive from the law, hiding in an embassy, who has a history of undermining American interests,” Graham said. “I hope no American will be duped by him. You shouldn't give him any credibility.”

Assange and WikiLeaks have long been frequent targets of Republican criticism for publishing American documents related to the Iraq War, among other topics.

But Trump on Wednesday morning took to Twitter to promote comments Assange made to Fox News’ Sean Hannity denying that the Russian government was WikiLeaks’ source. Trump also tweeted Assange’s assertion that U.S. media coverage is “very dishonest.”

Asked about the tweets, Graham described them as “very disturbing, quite frankly,” and urged Trump to trust the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment about Russia’s involvement in the hacking after he receives a briefing on the topic on Friday.

“This was done by the Russians, and I hope by Friday President-elect Trump comes to that realization and ignores Mr. Assange,” Graham said. “Not only should he ignore Julian Assange, he should condemn him for what he’s done to our country, putting our soldiers at risk, putting our foreign policy at risk. Julian Assange is no friend of America and he’s no friend of democracy.”

Asked if he thinks Trump has been duped by the WikiLeaks founder, Graham acknowledged that he did not know, but reiterated that he hopes Trump listens to the intelligence briefing.

“I’m sure he will,” he added, because “you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out what the Russians are up to.”

Over the rest of the segment, Graham repeated that line and said it would be difficult for him to vote for Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson, who has come under scrutiny for his business ties to Russia, if he does not accept the intelligence community’s finding.

As CNN’s host bid him good-bye at the end of the segment, Graham reiterated: “Don't listen to Julian Assange on anything. Thank you.”