President Donald Trump downplayed the widespread hack of U.S. government agencies in his first comment on the subject Saturday, tweeting that the media was blowing the incident out of proportion.
Hackers allegedly breached numerous government agencies and major corporations after compromising software from SolarWinds, a Texas-based company used by the organizations. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday that the culprit was most likely Russia, a sentiment Trump downplayed Saturday.
“The Cyber Hack is far greater in the Fake News Media than in actuality. I have been fully briefed and everything is well under control. Russia, Russia, Russia is the priority chant when anything happens because Lamestream is, for mostly financial reasons, petrified of discussing the possibility that it may be China (it may!),” Trump tweeted. “There could also have been a hit on our ridiculous voting machines during the election, which is now obvious that I won big, making it an even more corrupted embarrassment for the USA.”
The companies and agencies affected by the hack have not presented evidence suggesting China was behind the attack. (RELATED: REPORT: US Treasury Emails Monitored By Suspected Russian Hackers)
The Cyber Hack is far greater in the Fake News Media than in actuality. I have been fully briefed and everything is well under control. Russia, Russia, Russia is the priority chant when anything happens because Lamestream is, for mostly financial reasons, petrified of….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 19, 2020
….discussing the possibility that it may be China (it may!). There could also have been a hit on our ridiculous voting machines during the election, which is now obvious that I won big, making it an even more corrupted embarrassment for the USA. @DNI_Ratcliffe @SecPompeo
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 19, 2020
The hackers have reportedly had access to U.S. systems since March, making it difficult to discover what may have been taken or prevent further access. Microsoft stated publicly this week that it has identified more than 40 organizations, including itself, that have been affected by the hack.
“The attack unfortunately represents a broad and successful espionage-based assault on both the confidential information of the U.S. Government and the tech tools used by firms to protect them,” Microsoft President Brad Smith wrote in a Thursday statement. “The attack is ongoing and is being actively investigated and addressed by cybersecurity teams in the public and private sectors, including Microsoft.”