Trump Criticizes White House Spokesman After Comments on 'Encouraging Cyber Attacks'

The elected President of the United States reacted to comments made by Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman, regarding his knowledge of Russian cyber attacks on the U.S. elections and encouragement of such actions, calling Earnest a 'fool.' Trump's criticism came just hours after Earnest stated, 'Mr. Trump certainly knew that Russia was involved in destructive cyber attacks, helping his campaign and harming Clinton's campaign.' The White House official then told reporters, 'You all have this recorded, that the Republican nominee (Donald Trump) encouraged Russia to hack his opponent, believing it would help his campaign.' This refers to Trump's comments in August when he said, 'Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you can find the 30,000 emails that are missing.' Trump later claimed those remarks were a 'joke' and that he had no acquaintance with the Russian president. During a speech in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Trump said, 'This fool, Josh Earnest, I don’t know if he even talks to President Obama. You know, having a good spokesman is very important because he (Earnest) is very bad at it; the way he conveys the message [is very bad]. He can make a good message sound bad.' The elected President of the United States added, 'The President is a very positive person, but he (referring to Earnest) is not a positive person. And I mean, maybe he takes orders from someone else. Can that be? Is that possible?' Trump also stated that he recently had a positive conversation with President Barack Obama, then discouraged those who booed at the mention of Obama. Trump's criticism of Earnest coincides with criticisms from his senior advisor against the White House spokesman. Kellyanne Conway, in an interview with Fox News, stated that Josh Earnest 'essentially suggested that the elected President was aware of the [cyber attack] and even encouraged it. Such a thing is severely lacking in accountability. I wonder if his boss, President Obama, agrees with these statements.' Barack Obama, the President of the United States, recently stated in an interview with NPR that the U.S. would respond practically to Russian cyber interference in its elections. He emphasized that, from his perspective, Trump's campaign did not assist in the cyber attacks and played no role in it, but rather, 'as everyone else understood, they also understood that this [hacking and document release] was not beneficial to Hillary Clinton's campaign.' The accusation against Russia for conducting cyber attacks on the U.S. elections with the potential aim of influencing the outcome has led to widespread reactions in the American political scene. Critical reactions that Democrats and some senior Republican officials seem to agree on regarding the need for extensive investigations and responses. Before Obama's remarks, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, from the Senate Armed Services Committee, stated in an interview with CNN that his goal is to present a 'crippling' sanctions plan against Russia to the future President of the United States. Recently, Trump asked on Twitter, 'If Russia or anyone else hacked, why has the White House waited so long to act? Why only now that Clinton has lost do they complain?' The U.S. government officially accused the Russian government of conducting cyber attacks aimed at influencing the presidential election results during the height of the electoral competition last month. Barack Obama, in an interview with NPR, stated that he intends to publish the U.S. intelligence community's investigations into cyber interference before the end of his presidency. The 45th President of the United States will assume control of the government and command of the U.S. armed forces on January 20.