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WASHINGTON (AP) – US Attorney General Bill Barr said Monday that Russia was behind the massive hack of US government computer systems, contradicting President Donald Trump’s suggestion that China might be involved.
Two days after Trump downplayed what intelligence experts have called the most devastating breach in US cybersecurity in years, Barr said he agreed with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blaming the attack on Moscow .
“From the information I have, I agree with Secretary Pompeo’s assessment. They certainly appear to be the Russians,” he said, refusing to add details.
Last week, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said that U.S. government agencies, critical infrastructure entities and private sector organizations had been exposed in the months-long cyberattack, in which Hackers cracked widely used security software created by the US company SolarWinds.
Officials are still checking their systems to see what kinds of information might have been stolen, possibly even from US spy agencies, and if they are still vulnerable.
While CISA did not identify the attackers, private security consultants, high-level US lawmakers reported by intelligence officials and Pompeo blamed Russia.
Trump, who for four years has steadfastly avoided criticizing Moscow, in particular its alleged radical interference in the 2016 elections on his behalf, on Friday again refused to indict Russia in the piracy case.
“The Cyber Hack is much bigger in the fake news media than in reality,” he tweeted, saying that “everything is well under control.”
“Russia, Russia, Russia is the priority song when something happens,” he continued, adding that the media were, “mainly for financial reasons, petrified of discussing the possibility that it could be China (it could be!)”.
Barr, who has been a crucial political ally of Trump, will resign from office this week, a month before Trump leaves the White House on January 20 after his electoral defeat last month to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden.
While as attorney general he has avoided contradicting Trump, on Monday he also rejected calls by the president and his allies to initiate special prosecution investigations of Biden’s son Hunter and alleged election fraud.
Barr repeated what he said on December 12, that he did not see any significant or systemic fraud that would affect the results of the November elections.
Barr declined to comment further on Trump’s efforts in court and in public to overturn the election, including reports that advisers had raised the idea of declaring martial law during a meeting at the White House last week.
