--- title: Donald Trump Responds to Russia Allegations: 'Nonsense' description: Donald Trump commented on reports that he was briefed on a memo alleging that Russia has compromising information about him canonical: https://time.com/4631494/donald-trump-russia-allegations-intelligence-agencies/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-11T16:38:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T13:38:39.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Suggests Intelligence Agencies Released Russia Allegations og:description: The president-elect called the memo "nonsense" og:url: https://time.com/4631494/donald-trump-russia-allegations-intelligence-agencies/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbb5ceb29135a2d0b/6988b5262dce0170ce9ebe2b/trump-donald.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Suggests Intelligence Agencies Released Russia Allegations twitter:description: The president-elect called the memo "nonsense" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbb5ceb29135a2d0b/6988b5262dce0170ce9ebe2b/trump-donald.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Suggests Intelligence Agencies Released Russia Allegations by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Updated: Dec 13, 2023 1:38 PM UTCPublished: Jan 11, 2017 4:38 PM UTC  President-elect Trump speaks during a news conference, on Jan. 11, 2017, in New York City. President-elect Trump speaks during a news conference, on Jan. 11, 2017, in New York City.Evan Vucci—AP by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Updated: Dec 13, 2023 1:38 PM UTCPublished: Jan 11, 2017 4:38 PM UTC [Donald Trump ](http://time.com/4631259/donald-trump-news-conference-watch-live/)commented on reports that he was briefed on a[ memo alleging that Russia has compromising information](http://time.com/4631402/russia-donald-trump-information-collection-denial/) about the president-elect at a press conference on Wednesday, calling the memo “nonsense” and saying intelligence agencies may be to blame for its release. “I want to thank a lot of the news organizations here today,” he said, “because they looked at that nonsense that was released by maybe the intelligence agencies, who knows, but maybe the intelligence agencies, which would be a tremendous blot on their record if they did that.” Though his press secretary Sean Spicer slammed BuzzFeed for posting the document containing the allegations, calling it a “sad and pathetic attempt to get clicks,” Trump thanked the news organizations that chose not to post the documents. “I have great respect for freedom of the press and all of that, but I will tell you there were some news organizations with all that was just said that were so professional, so incredibly professional that I’ve just gone up a notch as to what I think of you.” Asked about his tweet comparing the situation to “Nazi Germany,” Trump said, “I think it was disgraceful that the intelligence agencies allowed any information, that turned out to be so false and fake, out. I think it’s a disgrace and I say that … and that’s something that Nazi Germany would have done and did do. Information that was false and fake and never happened got released to the public, as far as Buzzfeed—which is a failing pile of garbage—writing it, I think they are going to suffer the consequences. 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