President-elect Donald Trump has "great respect for the intelligence community," but he's disappointed leaks were made before his briefing about alleged Russian hacking of the Democrats, incoming White House counsel Kellyanne Conway said Friday.
"It's been very confounding to us and certainly to the president-elect why this report, if it wasn't prepared until yesterday, why operators were expelled, why the punishment preceded actual conclusions," Conway told the "CBS This Morning" program.
Conway pointed out that during Thursday's Senate hearing, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and NSA Director Mike Rogers "admitted they're way behind the curve when it comes to the cyber community."
Further, she said, the FBI asked the Democratic National Committee, one of the entities hacked, to look at its server and it was rebuffed.
"Let's not conflict the two things, the respect for the intelligence community and the intelligence and security team that the president-elect has assembled for his administration," said Conway, describing Trump's team as being "solid."
Conway said she has not been part of briefings so far concerning Russia, but the fact of the matter is simple:
"We do not want any foreign government to interfere in this country, and what its people are doing," Conway said. "Cyber security is very serious to this administration. At the same time, let's wait until the president-elect receives the briefing of this fresh new material."
Meanwhile, she said Russian President Vladimir Putin did not discourage Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton from campaigning in vital states such as Wisconsin, and she questioned why the Russian leader would want Trump to win.
She also denied that Trump is putting the world of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange over those of the intelligence community, but rather is calling for the public to examine all of the information.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.