Pete Hoekstra: Trump's Reluctance to Blame Russia is 'Healthy Skepticism'

Former Rep. Pete Hoekstra, an adviser to the White House transition team, is downplaying President-elect Donald Trump's reluctance to accept the intelligence community's conclusion that Russia interfered in the presidential election, Politico reports.

Hoekstra, who served as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, calls Trump's views on assessments that Russia hacked the presidential campaign "healthy skepticism."

However, he told CNN "the words that come out of the intelligence community mean a lot," according to Politico.

"I think it's very, very healthy for the president, I think it's healthy for the intelligence community, to be skeptical and put pressure on the intelligence community to make sure that they put forward great information," Hoekstra said.

"You know, again, them not being willing to brief Congress, I would be greatly concerned about what they're saying and the information that they're leaking out to the public if they're not even willing to brief Congress."

Meanwhile, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham has been calling for an investigation into Russia's attempt to influence the election. But Hoekstra maintained Trump is not battling Graham and other GOP senators on the issue.

"Lindsey is laying out a process that I think is kind of very similar to what I laid out, is they're going to hold hearings," he said. "They're going to find out exactly what the Russians did."

And ABC News reports President Barack Obama is expected to announce retaliatory steps against Russia as early as Thursday for meddling in the election.

The network news says the Obama administration will also explain why it is confident Russia was behind the cyber-attack.

• Obama Under Pressure to Show Evidence of Russian Hacking
• Kerry: Russian Hacking Had Major Impact on Election