Trump team rejects CIA assessment on Russian involvement in US election

US President-elect Donald Trump's transition team Friday night rejected a reported CIA assessment claiming that the Russian government had interfered in the US election to help him win the White House, China's Xinhua news agency reported.

"These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction," the Trump team said in a statement.

"The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history," said the statement, adding "It's now time to move on."

The statement was issued shortly after the Washington Post newspaper, citing officials briefed, reported that the CIA had determined in a secret assessment that the Russian government had interfered in the 2016 US election in a special bid to help Trump.

Lisa Monaco, White House counter-terrorism and homeland security adviser, told local media Friday morning that President Barack Obama had ordered intelligence agencies to produce a "full review" on cyber attacks during the 2016 US presidential election.

However, the findings might not be made public, she said, noting this would be decided by intelligence officials.

In October the Obama administration claimed that Moscow was behind the hackers infiltrating the Democratic National Committee and then Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign in a bid to disrupt the U.S. election. Russia immediately denied these allegations.

On the campaign trail, Trump, then Republican presidential nominee, repeatedly argued that there were political motives behind such allegations. -- BERNAMA