Donald Trump "is not denying that entities in Russia were behind this particular hacking campaign," Reince Priebus said. | AP Photo Priebus claims Trump accepts Russia's role in hack

Incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus said Sunday that President-elect Donald Trump accepts that Russia played a role in hacking the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta.

Trump "is not denying that entities in Russia were behind this particular hacking campaign," Priebus said on "Fox News Sunday."


Trump has only indirectly acknowledged the intelligence community's conclusion that Russia interfered in the election and has consistently downplayed its significance — and the president-elect has a history of later contradicting what his surrogates tell the media.

The U.S. intelligence community has definitively pointed the finger at Russia for hacking and releasing the emails of both the Democratic National Committee and Podesta, and said the interference was intended to help Trump, who has pledged to have a friendlier relationship with the Russian state. Trump spent weeks questioning the publicly disclosed findings of the intelligence service before a briefing on Friday.

After the briefing, Trump stated, “While Russia, China, other countries, outside groups and people are consistently trying to break through the cyber infrastructure of our governmental institutions, businesses and organizations including the Democrat National Committee, there was absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election including the fact that there was no tampering whatsoever with voting machines.”