Trump spokesman casts doubt on hacking big reveal

Trump’s mystery sources

Donald Trump said the other day he knows “things that other people don’t know” about the presidential campaign hacking blamed on the Russians. Asked what, he said, “You’ll find out on Tuesday or Wednesday.”

Or maybe not. “He’s going to talk about his conclusions and where he thinks things stand. He’s not going to reveal anything that was privileged or was shared with him classified,” spokesman Sean Spicer told CNN Monday.

Trump’s earlier comments were taken as a hint he had heard things from outside the nation’s intelligence community.

He has made claims for independent sleuthing before — like in 2011, when he said he sent investigators to Hawaii to look into whether President Barack Obama was really born there and bragged “they cannot believe what they’re finding.” Trump never followed up. In September, he announced he didn’t believe in birtherism.

The president-elect has resisted the intelligence chiefs’ reported conclusion — that Russia was behind the cyberhacking, which targeted Trump’s foes. But he said he would hear them out this week.

The take-away: Real(estate)politik

The heave-ho for hacking dealt the Russians in Upper Brookville puts a spotlight on both international intrigues and Nassau County’s really expensive real estate values, writes Newsday’s Dan Janison.

Russians and real estate also are two subjects for which Trump has an affinity. Even as a Long Island businessman openly covets the property, it’s not a bad bet that Trump will give Moscow back the keys to the gated compound.

Selective silence

The surprise move by the House's majority Republicans to gut a major post-Nixon reform in Congress -- an independent ethics office -- left their partisan president-elect silent. Trump had tweeted three times by early Tuesday morning -- about Obamacare, General Motors and China -- but not a word on the Congress members who have also left his own conflicts unexamined. On Tuesday, his adviser Kellyanne Conway said: "There's been an overzealousness in some of the processes over the years." Finally Trump issued a mild and relatively diplomatic suggestion over Twitter:

"With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it may be, their number one act and priority...."

Competence questioned

Fewer than half of Americans are confident in Trump's ability to handle an international crisis, use military force wisely, or prevent scandals in his administration, according to the latest Gallup poll. At least 7 in 10 Americans were confident in Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton in those areas before they took office. 

North Korea on notice

A day after North Korea’s Kim Jong Un said his country is closer to testing an intercontinental ballistic missile, Trump laid down a warning on Twitter.

“North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S. It won’t happen!” he wrote. He didn’t explain, but in a follow-up complained about China not helping rein them in:

“China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the U.S. in totally one-sided trade, but won’t help with North Korea. Nice!”

That ’80s show

Trump came of age as a New York public figure in the 1980s, and that decade’s stars, however faded now, remain his cultural touchstones, notes The Associated Press.

Bobby Knight, Don King, Sylvester Stallone, Mike Tyson and Scott Baio are among those name-dropped by Trump and sometimes at his side. The president-elect also seems to have internalized the ethos of that decade, when excess was the norm and ostentatious displays of wealth and power were celebrated, AP says.

Living in the past, Part 2

With his transition racing the calendar and his inauguration barely more than two weeks away, Trump found time to take yet another victory lap on Twitter Monday.

“It all came together in the last week and ... I thought and felt I would win big, easily.” He told a different story last month — that he thought on Election Day until the returns began coming in that he was going to lose.

Trump also had a gripe — mild, for him — with a CNN book on the 2016 race: “Hope it does well but used worst cover photo of me!” (Click here to see it.)

Chicago violence

Trump, pointing to the surging murder rate in Chicago, tweeted that the city’s Democratic mayor, Rahm Emanuel, should seek federal help to fight crime, Newsday’s Laura Figueroa reports.

Emanuel’s spokesman said, “We agree the federal government has a strong role to play” — and went on to urge cooperation on policies including some that Trump has opposed, such as “passing meaningful gun laws.”

What else is happening

• Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) is part of a group of national security experts prepping Rex Tillerson, Trump’s nominee as secretary of state, for his confirmation hearing, Newsday’s Emily Ngo reports. King called him “very well-versed, very knowledgeable.”
• Now under Sen. Chuck Schumer's guidance, Democratic senators plan to aggressively target eight of Trump’s Cabinet picks — including Tillerson and Jeff Sessions as attorney general — and are pushing to stretch their confirmation votes into March.
• Billionaire Wilbur Ross, Trump’s choice for secretary of commerce, was long a critic of “China-bashing” and only came around recently to echoing the president-elect’s hard line, Politico reports.
• A Gallup Poll finds less than half of Americans trust Trump’s abilities to prevent major scandals, handle an international crisis or use military force responsibly.
• White House veterans say Reince Priebus faces hurdles in his goal of establishing “some level of order” as Trump chief of staff, The Washington Post reports. One potential rival power center is Stephen Bannon’s; others may be Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner’s and Kellyanne Conway’s.
• A group of 37 top U.S. scientists wrote to Trump, urging him not to dismantle the Iran nuclear deal, The New York Times reported. Opinion is divided within Trump’s national security team.
• A Trump transition fundraiser planned for Thursday in Buffalo seems to have frozen out supporter Carl Paladino, the developer who caused a firestorm with racist remarks about Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, the Daily News says.