Russia and Putin · First term · № 65
Suggested China, not Russia, might be behind the SolarWinds hack, contradicting Pompeo
“The Cyber Hack is far greater in the Fake News Media than in actuality. I have been fully briefed and everything is well under control. Russia, Russia, Russia is the priority chant when anything happens because Lamestream is, for mostly financial reasons, petrified of.... ....discussing the possibility that it may be China (it may!).”
- Said
- Subject
- SolarWinds hack
- Type
- Intelligence and security
- Topic
- Foreign policy
- Era
- First term
What happened
SolarWinds said nearly 18,000 customers had received a software update tainted with malicious code, and the breach reportedly reached the State, Treasury, Homeland Security and Defense departments. On December 18, 2020 Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, "we can say pretty clearly that it was the Russians that engaged in this activity." The next day, in his first public comments on the breach, Trump said it was under control and suggested China might be responsible. Attorney General William Barr said on December 21 that the hack "certainly appears to be" the work of Russia. Russia denied involvement.