--- title: Donald Trump Dismisses CIA View of Russia's Role in Election description: Donald Trump's transition team has released a statement dismissing the CIA's assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 U.S. election. canonical: https://time.com/4597274/donald-trump-russia-election-intervention-cia/ author: Kate Samuelson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-10T16:26:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T10:30:34.615Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump's Transition Team Dismisses Report on Russian Interference in U.S. Election og:description: "It’s now time to move on and 'Make America Great Again'" og:url: https://time.com/4597274/donald-trump-russia-election-intervention-cia/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdaef25a92ccd6202/6988b281196cf46e7503e417/trump6.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Elect Trump Continues His "Thank You Tour" In Grand Rapids, Michigan og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump's Transition Team Dismisses Report on Russian Interference in U.S. Election twitter:description: "It’s now time to move on and 'Make America Great Again'" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdaef25a92ccd6202/6988b281196cf46e7503e417/trump6.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump's Transition Team Dismisses Report on Russian Interference in U.S. Election by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Dec 10, 2016 4:26 PM UTC  Donald Trump looks on during at the DeltaPlex Arena, on Dec. 9, 2016 in Grand Rapids, MI. Donald Trump looks on during at the DeltaPlex Arena, on Dec. 9, 2016 in Grand Rapids, MI.Drew Angerer—Getty Images by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Dec 10, 2016 4:26 PM UTC [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4591183/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump-interview/)‘s transition team on Friday released a statement dismissing a U.S. intelligence report of foreign interference in the 2016 U.S. election. “These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction,” the statement reads. “The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It’s now time to move on and ‘Make America Great Again’.” In a secret assessment conducted following the U.S. election, the CIA concluded that [Russia intervened](http://time.com/4433880/donald-trump-ties-to-russia/) to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton, rather than just undermine confidence in the country’s electoral system, the [_Washington Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-orders-review-of-russian-hacking-during-presidential-campaign/2016/12/09/31d6b300-be2a-11e6-94ac-3d324840106c%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.a00307c1a082) reports. “It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russia’s goal here was to favor one candidate over the other, to help Trump get elected,” a senior U.S. official briefed on an intelligence presentation told U.S. senators, according to the _Washington Post_. Trump has not acknowledged the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Russian actors were responsible for stealing the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign emails released on WikiLeaks. “I don’t believe it. I don’t believe they interfered,” he [told TIME](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump/), when interviewed for Person of the Year. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4597274/donald-trump-russia-election-intervention-cia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4597274/donald-trump-russia-election-intervention-cia/"},"headline":"Donald Trump's Transition Team Dismisses Report on Russian Interference in U.S. Election","datePublished":"2016-12-10T16:26:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:30:34.615Z","description":"\"It’s now time to move on and 'Make America Great Again'\"","url":"https://time.com/4597274/donald-trump-russia-election-intervention-cia/","keywords":["Donald Trump","russia","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdaef25a92ccd6202/6988b281196cf46e7503e417/trump6.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kate Samuelson","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdaef25a92ccd6202/6988b281196cf46e7503e417/trump6.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Elect Trump Continues His \"Thank You Tour\" In Grand Rapids, Michigan","caption":"President Elect Trump Continues His \"Thank You Tour\" In Grand Rapids, Michigan","creditText":"Drew Angerer—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4597274/donald-trump-russia-election-intervention-cia/","name":"Donald Trump's Transition Team Dismisses Report on Russian Interference in U.S. Election"}}]}] ```