Trump says hacking had 'no effect' on his election

WASHINGTON – US President-elect Donald Trump asserted that hacking did not sway the US election, after a briefing on an intelligence report that blamed Russia's Vladimir Putin for a cyber campaign to keep Hillary Clinton out of the White House.

While the president-elect held fast to his rejection of the intelligence community's conclusion that Russia interfered in the election, he accepted the possibility that Moscow was involved in hacking US targets including the Democratic National Committee.

After meeting four top intelligence chiefs, Trump acknowledged that cyber attacks by Russia and other countries threaten US institutions, political parties and businesses.

But he offered no direct acceptance of the intelligence chiefs' conclusion that Moscow staged an unprecedented attempt to influence the 2016 White House race by hacking and leaking documents that, they said in a new report, also aimed to boost Trump's campaign. -APP