White House on 'Russian Hacking' Allegations: "Someone Blocked the Statement" ... Trump Clashed with Pompeo

The White House in the United States prepared a statement identifying Russia as the party behind the government agency hacking incident but later withdrew the distribution of the statement. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Nah Hana] The White House in the United States prepared a statement blaming Russia for a large-scale hacking incident targeting major government agencies but withdrew the statement distribution due to internal orders.

According to CNN on the 19th (local time), White House officials drafted a statement claiming the hacking attack was the work of Russia and planned to release it the previous afternoon, but someone blocked it.

Officials said the statement indicated that Russia led the hacking and that other parties might also have been involved. It is unclear whether the statement will be released at a later time.

This incident occurred amid a direct clash between President Trump and Secretary Pompeo over the allegation that Russia was behind the hacking incident. Secretary Pompeo has been regarded as a close confidant of President Trump.

Earlier, Secretary Pompeo appeared on a radio broadcast the day before and stated that Russia was behind the hacking attack. He asserted, "I can say clearly that the ones involved in the hacking attack are Russians."

However, the next day, President Trump directly confronted Secretary Pompeo over the Russia hacking allegation and emphasized on Twitter that the suspicion of Russia's involvement is "fake news."

He added, "Russia, Russia, Russia is the go-to excuse whenever something happens," and said, "The lame stream (a derogatory term for mainstream media) is afraid to mention the possibility that China did it, mostly for financial reasons."

Meanwhile, local media reported that key U.S. government departments including the State Department, Treasury Department, Commerce Department, Department of Energy, National Institutes of Health, as well as private companies like Microsoft, have suffered uncontrollable damage from hacking attacks believed to be orchestrated by Russia.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.