Trump slams White House over Russia-linked hackings before poll

US President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday questioned the probe into election-related hacking that is allegedly linked to Moscow, hinting the White House only bothered to look into the matter now that Trump has won.

"If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?" Xinhua news agency cited a tweet by Trump.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest admitted Wednesday that the President had known about the hackings prior to the election, but refrained from acting on it to avoid being seen as "meddler in the election".

The New York Times reported on Wednesday that hacker groups linked to the Russian government have been actively trying to obtain information from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) since 2015.

Trump's rant can be seen as deep rift between Trump and the establishment regarding their stance on Russia.

The nomination of Rex Tillerson on Tuesday as the Secretary of State faces potential hurdles in the Congress with members of Trump's own Republican Party threatening to vote 'no'.

"I can't imagine I would vote for anybody that believes that we should not sanction Russia given that they did, in fact, interfere in our election," said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.

--IANS

vgu/vt