White House Press Secretary Suggests Putin Taking Cues From Trump Team

ByALEXANDER MALLIN ABCNews logo
Wednesday, January 18, 2017

White House press secretary Josh Earnest suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said the Obama administration is seeking to "delegitimize" the president-elect, may be taking cues from the Trump team.

Putin suggested the outgoing Obama administration was trying to undermine Trump by spreading "fake" rumors despite Trump's "convincing" victory.

"First of all, it seems like he got his copy of the talking points," Earnest told ABC News' chief White House correspondent, Jonathan Karl.

"From who?" Karl asked.

"Well, I don't know," Earnest said. "It certainly sounds a lot like what the incoming administration's team is saying."

The response from Trump and his team to a leaked dossier with unsubstantiated allegations that Russia holds compromising information on him has been swift, dismissing the claims as "fake news" and "nonsense."

Trump, who has been at odds with the intelligence community, even suggested that intelligence agencies "allowed" the dossier to be leaked, despite Director of National Intelligence James Clapper's saying in a statement that the dossier circulated for months before the intelligence community became aware of it.

Clapper also said in the statement, "This document is not a U.S. intelligence community product, and ... I do not believe the leaks came from within the [intelligence community]."

The spat became a war of words between Trump and outgoing CIA Director John Brennan, who Trump suggested Sunday evening could be behind the dossier's leak.

Earnest said Trump's "deeply misguided" comments lined up with Putin's accusations.

"Particularly to call into question the integrity of somebody like John Brennan, somebody who has served at the CIA for three decades, somebody who has served the country in dangerous locations around the world to try to keep us safe - I'm offended by it," Earnest said.

Trump's transition team did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment.

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