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   / Updated By Hasani Gittens and Ken Dilanian 
   
   The president-elect has taken yet more swipes at the intelligence community that will be under his command in just a few weeks, once again on Twitter. 
   
   Donald Trump mocked intelligence officials on Tuesday evening, claiming they had delayed a scheduled briefing on alleged Russian hacking because they "needed more time to build a case." 
   
   And on Wednesday, Trump continued to cast doubt on intelligence findings as he cited WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange's claim that a "14-year-old kid could have hacked" the emails of Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta. "Also [Assange] said Russians did not give him the info!" Trump added. 
   
   Trump's tweets came after Assange once again claimed that Russia was not the source of Podesta's stolen emails, published by WikiLeaks. He told Fox News' Sean Hannity that our "source is not the Russian government and it is not a state party" and that "a 14-year-old kid could have hacked Podesta." 
   
   Intelligence experts both inside and outside of the government say evidence suggests Russia had tried to influence the election. The Obama administration has said the hacking campaign went to the highest level of the Russian government. 
   
   Trump has previously stated that it's nearly impossible to know who hacked what and when. The president-elect antagonized the intelligence community over the weekend, telling reporters gathered outside his New Year’s Eve party that hacking is a “very hard thing to prove” and that he knows “things that other people don’t know, and so [intelligence officials] cannot be sure of the situation." 
   
   Trump has promised to reveal what he proclaims to know this week but there has been some confusion over when he will receive new intelligence briefings. 
   
   He initially said he would be meeting with high-level intel briefers mid-week but that it was delayed. 
   
   However, a senior U.S. intelligence official with direct knowledge of the situation told NBC News Tuesday night that the heads of the NSA, CIA, FBI and the director of national intelligence were always scheduled to meet with Trump on Friday. 
   
   Another official had previously told NBC News that the briefing was scheduled for Wednesday, but that was apparently wrong. 
   
   A senior intelligence official called Trump's tweet disturbing and "adversarial," telling NBC News: "He's calling out the men and women of the intelligence community the way he called out Lockheed and Boeing, but these are public servants." 
   
   Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the new top Democrat in the Senate, said on MSNBC Tuesday night that Trump was being "really dumb" in taking on the U.S. intelligence community. "You take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday to get back at you," he told Rachel Maddow on her show. 
   
   CIA Director John Brennan told PBS Newshour Tuesday that his report on Russian hacking was in the “final throes” and would be delivered to President Obama in days. 
   
   Meanwhile, Trump earlier Tuesday tweeted that he would be holding his first news conference in over five months. The Jan. 11 date is a reschedule from when Trump had promised to hold a press conference in late December, but didn't. The last time Trump held a pre-scheduled open media availability was on July 27, 2016. ||||| Washington (CNN) President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter Tuesday evening to deride the US intelligence agencies due to brief him on alleged Russian hacking of American political groups. 
   
   The "Intelligence" briefing on so-called "Russian hacking" was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange! 
   
   It was his latest attack on a key body he will rely on as commander in chief and again put him at odds with the agencies' unanimous conclusion that Russia hacked Democratic Party groups and individuals to interfere in the US presidential election. 
   
   Trump suggested that intelligence officials postponed an " 'intelligence' briefing on so-called 'Russian hacking' " that they were set to deliver to him this week because they might need more time "to build a case." He called the alleged delay "very strange." 
   
   Trump tweeted Wednesday , "Julian Assange said 'a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta' - why was DNC so careless? Also said Russians did not give him the info!" 
   
   Julian Assange said "a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta" - why was DNC so careless? Also said Russians did not give him the info! 
   
   Trump said last week that he would receive an intelligence briefing on the Russian breaches this week and suggested it would come early on, telling reporters on New Year's Eve that they would know more about the subject "Tuesday or Wednesday." 
   
   But US intelligence officials disputed Trump's tweet alleging a delay. 
   
   Top US intelligence officials have been scheduled to brief Trump on the full report on Russian hacking President Barack Obama ordered once it was completed, but the meeting was not set to take place until later in the week, according to US officials. 
   
   The meeting was never scheduled for Tuesday, as even Obama has yet to receive the full-fledged briefing on the Russian hacking, one US official said. 
   
   And a US intelligence official told CNN that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was never scheduled to be in New York City, where Trump is, on Tuesday -- and was perplexed about the "delay" Trump claimed was taking place. 
   
   Trump on Tuesday did receive a classified intelligence briefing -- the Presidential Daily Briefing -- which Trump has elected to receive only sporadically. But it did not dive deeply into the Russian hacking. 
   
   US officials briefed on the matter said Clapper, National Security Agency Director Adm. Mike Rogers, FBI Director James Comey and CIA Director John Brennan are scheduled to attend the meeting with Trump providing him details on the Russian hacking. 
   
   While Obama met with the heads of US intelligence agencies in his first weeks as president-elect, Trump has yet to do so eight weeks after he was elected, which US officials said was due to Trump's scheduling conflicts. 
   
   Instead, the President-elect has repeatedly questioned their assessment of Russian cyber activity. 
   
   Before the election, when 17 US intelligence agencies issued a public statement concluding that Russia orchestrated the hack of the Democratic National Committee, Trump immediately cast doubt on those conclusions, arguing it was impossible to distinguish between a Russian government operative and "somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds." 
   
   After Obama then slapped a series of sanctions on Russia, Trump issued a statement calling for the country to "move on to bigger and better things" and then tweeted praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin for not retaliating against the sanctions. 
   
   Trump continued his skepticism on New Year's Eve, telling reporters once again that it "could be somebody else." 
   
   "I know a lot about hacking. And hacking is a very hard thing to prove," he said. 
   
   He added that he also knows "things that other people don't know, so they can't be sure of the situation." 
   
   On Tuesday, Russia again denied intervening in the US election campaign. 
   
   Reacting to a US intelligence official who told CNN the administration traced the hack to specific keyboards, which featured Cyrillic characters, Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov said: "I don't understand what this means exactly but Cyrillic characters can be used everywhere." 
   
   "Once again I reject any possibility that official Russia can be involved in any way," he added. ||||| Image copyright AP 
   
   President-elect Donald Trump has backed Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in casting doubt on intelligence alleging Russian meddling in the US election. 
   
   Mr Assange said Russia was not the source for the site's mass leak of emails from the Democratic Party. 
   
   Mr Trump has now backed that view in a tweet. He wrote: "Assange... said Russians did not give him the info!" 
   
   The president-elect has repeatedly refused to accept the conclusions of the US intelligence community. 
   
   Several US agencies including the FBI and the CIA believe Russia directed hacks against the Democratic Party and the campaign of its presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. 
   
   The information, released through Wikileaks and other outlets, was intended to help Mr Trump win the election, say the FBI and CIA. 
   
   On Tuesday evening, Mr Trump said an intelligence briefing he was due to receive on the issue had been delayed. 
   
   "Perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!" he wrote. 
   
   But US intelligence officials insisted there had been no delay in the briefing schedule. 
   
   In an interview with Fox News, Mr Assange repeated his claim that Russia was not behind the leak. 
   
   He also said a 14-year-old could have carried out one of the hacks, on the email account of John Podesta, a top aide of Mrs Clinton. 
   
   In 2010, several leading Republican figures were calling for the Wikileaks founder to be imprisoned after his website published thousands of embarrassing diplomatic cables leaked by former Army Pte Chelsea Manning. 
   
   Mr Trump tweeted twice on Wednesday morning in support of what Mr Assange said on Fox News. 
   
   Image copyright Twitter 
   
   Image copyright Twitter 
   
   However, Mr Trump has previously been critical of the Wikileaks organisation. 
   
   When asked by a Fox News reporter in 2010 to comment on leaks, he responded: "I think it's disgraceful, I think there should be like death penalty or something." 
   
   In another development, Mr Trump's pick for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, has agreed he will cut all ties with Exxon Mobil and comply with conflict-of-interest requirements. He departs with a $180m retirement package. 
   
   Ethics row 
   
   Meanwhile, Republicans have ditched a plan to gut the independent body that investigates political misconduct after a backlash. 
   
   The lawmakers' surprise vote to strip the Office of Congressional Ethics of its independence prompted public uproar and a dressing down from Mr Trump on Twitter. 
   
   The secretive move, which overshadowed the first day of the 115th Congress, was reversed in an emergency meeting. 
   
   The ethics body was set up in 2008 following a slew of scandals that resulted in several House lawmakers being jailed. 
   
   Mr Trump made cleaning up corruption in Washington a key theme of his campaign. 
   
   Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan had argued unsuccessfully against the rule change, which was adopted on Monday night in a closed-door meeting. 
   
   As the news spread, internet searches for "who is my representative" rocketed, according to Google Trends, and constituents tried to call and email lawmakers to object. 
   
   House Republicans called an emergency meeting and abruptly voted to undo the change. ||||| Tweet with a location 
   
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target: – Donald Trump launched what the BBC describes as a "fresh assault on America's intelligence community" with a tweet Tuesday night accusing them of delaying a briefing—and putting "intelligence" in quotes. "The 'Intelligence' briefing on so-called 'Russian hacking' was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case," Trump tweeted. "Very strange!" Officials, however, tell CNN that the briefing had never been scheduled for Tuesday, and even President Obama has yet to receive the final report from top intelligence officials on the alleged Russian hacking of the presidential election. Officials say Trump or his team may have mistakenly thought his regular intelligence briefing Tuesday would be the Russia-related one. A senior intelligence official tells NBC News that the director of national intelligence and heads of the NSA, CIA, and FBI are among those scheduled to meet with Trump on Friday. The Washington Post reports that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called Trump's attitude toward intelligence services "really dumb" Tuesday night. "Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you," he told Rachel Maddow. "From what I am told, they are very upset with how he has treated them and talked about them." A source tells the Post that the report on Russian hacking could be on Obama's desk as soon as Thursday. A declassified version might be released to the public early next week, the source says. (At least one Trump adviser disagrees with the president-elect's skepticism.)