WEB DESK
U.S.-President-elect Donald Trump said he believed that Russia was behind the hacking that occurred during the U.S. election. “I think it was Russia,” Trump told media at his first news conference as president-elect when asked about the U.S. conclusions that Russia meddled in the November election.
Though a few minutes later he said perhaps it was another country.
But he vigorously denied the swirl of allegations about his behavior that was published online Tuesday, calling it “fake news” and praising Russian President Vladimir V. Putin for saying it was false. “I respected the fact that he said that,” Mr. Trump told reporters.
“It’s all fake news. Its phony stuff. It didn’t happen,” Mr. Trump said. “It was gotten by opponents of ours. It was a group of opponents that got together. Sick people and they got together and put that crap together.”
He also addressed potential conflicts of interest involving his global business empire.
Trump said he would turn “complete and total control”of his business empire to his sons, who will not discuss it with him.
Trump has a vast portfolio of U.S. and overseas business interests prompting questions about how they will be managed while he is in the White House making policy decisions.
The president-elect’s lawyer says he should not be expected to “destroy the company he built.”
Trump’s last news conference came in late July when he began his remarks by lambasting his Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton for going months without speaking to the press.
“It’s been 235 days since crooked Hillary Clinton has had a press conference,” Trump said at that time. “And you, as reporters who give her all of these glowing reports, should ask yourselves why. And I’ll tell you why. Because despite the nice platitudes, she’s been a mess.”