Russia was influencing the presidential election process by using hacked information and Donald Trump was told about it, GOP Rep. Mike McCaul says.
"I think he has in his mind that there's not the proof," the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security said during a Texas Tribune event Tuesday, Politico reports.
"Now he hasn't had the briefing I had, but I made it clear that in my judgment it was a nation-state."
Trump in the final presidential debate said Hillary Clinton has "no idea whether it's Russia, China, or anybody else" and that he doubted the conclusion by 17 federal intelligence agencies that Russia did take part in the cyberattacks.
He also added that Clinton doesn't like Russian President Vladimir Putin "because Putin has outsmarted her at every step of the way."
McCaul, a Texas Republican, said he got pulled in before the second and third debate to help bring Trump up to speed on national security issues.
"In the last debate he's said '(Putin's) not my friend,' and he's not. He doesn't even know the guy. I cautioned that Mr. Putin's a very dangerous man, once KGB, always KGB," McCaul said in reference to a question about whether Trump's relationship with Putin concerned him at all. "His goals are very different from ours. It's almost like looking at Hitler after World War I trying to regain the glory of the German empire, now it's the Soviet empire."
McCaul also said that while Trump, whose strength isn't national security, is the right person for the job and that Clinton is viewed as a weaker opponent internationally.
"I've been across the globe, talked to a lot of world leaders, I don't think she's very well respected," said McCaul.
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