Trump Fuels Debate over Campaign Hacking

The president-elect is casting doubt on an upcoming intelligence briefing on the investigation into Russia's alleged hacking of Democratic emails during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Donald Trump tweeted that the briefing was delayed until Friday and commented that the FBI and CIA "perhaps need more time to build a case.  Very strange!"

The U.S. intelligence agencies have been strengthening an argument that Russia was behind the hacking of Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails last year.  Trump, however, has blamed the DNC and aligned himself with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who says the Russians weren't involved.

In another tweet, Trump blamed the DNC for not having a "hacking defense" as sophisticated as the Republican National Committee’s.

President Obama blamed Russia while announcing a series of sanctions against the country last week.  In a terse statement he said "these data and disclosure activities could only have been directed by the highest levels of the Russian government."

The debate over who hacked into the DNC emails is also affecting the media.  Rolling Stone magazine noted that many journalists are "quietly freaking out" about how to handle the story and said "absent independent verification, reporters will have to rely upon the secret assessments of intelligence agencies to cover the story at all."

Reporters can also wait to see how Trump responds to his intelligence briefing on Friday.  He's set to meet with CIA Director John Brennan, FBI Director James Comey and national intelligence chief James Clapper in New York.