President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday that the only reason the hacking of the Democratic National Committee is discussed is because Democrats are "totally embarrassed" about their election loss, and he urged friendlier relations with Russia.
"Only reason the hacking of the poorly defended DNC is discussed is that the loss by the Dems was so big that they are totally embarrassed!" Trump said as part of a Saturday morning tweetstorm.
His comments came a day after the declassification of a US intelligence report that concluded Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, ordered a campaign to influence the US election and hurt Hillary Clinton's chances of winning.
Trump pointed to "gross negligence" by the DNC as the reason the hacking took place.
He also denied suggestions that the Russian hacking could have affected the election results, saying "there was absolutely no evidence that hacking affected the election results" because voting machines weren't "touched."
The US intelligence community's report concluded that Russia — led by Putin — developed a "clear preference for President-elect Trump. But it did not assess the impact that Russian activities had on the election outcome, as Business Insider's Pamela Engel reported.