Trump and the Russia report: What you need to know
Here are the key points you need to know about the intelligence documents on President-elect Donald Trump and Russia:
• Most of the information in the documents comes from a single source, a former intelligence officer for a western country who specialized in Russian counter-intelligence.
• The report accuses Russia of "cultivating, supporting, and assisting" Trump for "at least five years." It also asserts that Russia has possible "blackmail" information on the president-elect, including sexual and financial misconduct, as well collusion between Trump aides and Kremlin officials during last year's election.
• All of the allegations against Trump are unsubstantiated and unverified.
• Trump described the reports as "fake news" and a "witch hunt" on Tuesday night. In a Wednesday morning tweetstorm, Trump said, "Russia has never tried to use leverage over me. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA - NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!"
• Russia has denied having any "compromising materials" on Trump or on Hillary Clinton.
• Various news organizations have had these documents for months but chose not to publish them because the claims are unsubstantiated. They are coming out now because intelligence officials briefed Trump and Obama about the allegations last week. CNN and Buzzfeed were the first to publish on Tuesday. Mother Jones had published a limited version before the election.
• The decision by intelligence officials to give Trump, President Obama and Republican and Democratic leaders of Congress and the intelligence committees unconfirmed material is very unusual.
Read more:
Clinton allies react to reports on Russia, Trump
Senate Intelligence Committee to review Russian hacking report sources
Putin ordered hacking to help Trump, intelligence report says
