No reasons have been given for the decision
White House officials had planned to issue a statement alleging Russian involvement in a large-scale hacking attack on U.S. government computer systems but were instructed at the last minute not to release the statement. The Associated Press reported this on Saturday.
Its sources said, “Officials at the White House were prepared on Friday afternoon to release a statement accusing Russia of playing a major role in the cyberattack.” The officials in question were instructed “at the last minute” to cancel the publication of the document. The White House did not explain why the decision was made.
The agency quoted an official source as saying. “This appears to be the worst case of a hacking attack in American history,” he believes.
The incumbent US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the media had exaggerated the extent of what had happened. He disagreed with claims by some outlets that a group of hackers working for Moscow could have been behind the cyberattack, and instead allowed that Beijing could have been involved. “Russia, Russia, Russia is a favourite song when anything happens, as the liberal media, for the most part for financial reasons, is scared to death to discuss the possibility that it could be China (and it could be!),” Trump opined.
He noted the Twitter accounts of US Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo in his post. The US foreign policy chief also commented on reports of the cyber attacks in an interview with US journalist Mark Levin on Friday. According to his version, Russia was involved in what happened. “I think in this case we can say quite definitely that the Russians carried out these activities,” Pompeo shared his opinion. The press service of the State Department distributed the text of the interview.