[Special] Donald Trump: Perpetual Liar, Vainglorious Blowhard (Russian Hacking Edition)

• Yahoo News: Donald Trump Rips ‘NBC Nightly News’ as ‘Biased, Inaccurate and Bad’ by Brian Flood (December 12, 2016) - 

President-elect Donald Trump blasted “NBC Nightly News” as “biased, inaccurate and bad,” adding another twist to his bizarre relationship with the network continues.

Trump apparently didn’t like an NBC segment that showed excerpts of his “Fox News Sunday” interview with Chris Wallace in which he said he rejects CIA findings regarding Russia hacking the election and opts not to receive daily intelligence briefings.

• NBC News: Trump Has Been Strikingly Consistent in Denying Russian Hacking Role by Chuck Todd (January 6, 2017) - 

As President-elect Donald Trump today receives his intelligence briefing from top officials on Russia's role in the 2016 presidential race, it's worth listing his remarkable consistency denying Russian interference, which dates back to the debate season.

[Todd lists eight (8) separate direct quotes from Trump denying Russia was behind the hack]

• Washington Post: Trump Admits to Russian Hacking Even As He Attacks U.S. Intelligence Committee by Philip Rucker and Ashley Parker (January 12, 2017) - 

President-elect Donald Trump acknowledged for the first time here Wednesday that Russia was responsible for hacking the Democratic Party during last year’s election, but he denied that the leaks were intended to boost him and argued that Moscow would cease cyberattacks on the United States once he is sworn in.

In a rollicking hour-long news conference, Trump furiously denounced as “fake news” the reports that Russia had obtained salacious intelligence that could compromise him. He suggested that any damaging information collected by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s administration would already have been released — and he celebrated what had leaked out about Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

“As far as hacking, I think it was Russia,” Mr. Trump said. “Hacking’s bad, and it shouldn’t be done. But look at the things that were hacked, look at what was learned from that hacking.”

Yahoo News: U.S. Intel Officials Probe Ties Between Trump Adviser And Kremlin

By Michael Isikoff:

U.S. intelligence officials are seeking to determine whether an American businessman identified by Donald Trump as one of his foreign policy advisers has opened up private communications with senior Russian officials — including talks about the possible lifting of economic sanctions if the Republican nominee becomes president, according to multiple sources who have been briefed on the issue.

The activities of Trump adviser Carter Page, who has extensive business interests in Russia, have been discussed with senior members of Congress during recent briefings about suspected efforts by Moscow to influence the presidential election, the sources said. After one of those briefings, Senate minority leader Harry Reid wrote FBI Director James Comey, citing reports of meetings between a Trump adviser (a reference to Page) and “high ranking sanctioned individuals” in Moscow over the summer as evidence of “significant and disturbing ties” between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin that needed to be investigated by the bureau.

The Full Story (September 23, 2016)

Yahoo: Trump Charity Gave $100,000 to David Bossie’s Citizens United That Helped Fund Lawsuit Against Mogul’s Foe

By Michael Isikoff:

Donald Trump’s charitable foundation gave $100,000 in 2014 to a conservative activist group that was used to help finance a federal lawsuit against New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman — the same public official who was suing the real estate mogul for fraud over the operations of Trump University.

The size and timing of the donation to the Citizens United Foundation, an arm of the sprawling conservative network run by David Bossie, who is now Trump’s deputy campaign manager, could raise fresh questions about whether Trump has used his tax-exempt charity to further political and personal causes.

The Full Story (September 9, 2016)