Russian hacking is fine if the information is valuable, Donald Trump appears to suggest

The President-elect has in the past suggested that Democrats are only upset about hacking because Hillary Clinton lost the election

US President-elect Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a rally at the Giant Center, December 15, 2016 in Hershey, Pennsylvania (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Donald Trump has apparently suggested that Russian hacking of the election is fine because of the information that was found.

Mr Trump has been repeatedly criticised for failing to condemn any potential hacking of the US election process by other states. Reports from within the White House have suggested that intelligence agencies believe Russia and other governments helped influence the results of the election through cyber weapons.

Now the President-elect has suggested that Democrats are unhappy with the hacking because it revealed unfortunate facts about Ms Clinton.

“Are we talking about the same cyberattack where it was revealed that head of the DNC illegally gave Hillary the questions to the debate?” he tweeted.

The message was a reference to hacked emails that were made public my WikiLeaks, and which showed that a top official in the Democratic National Committee had told Hillary Clinton’s campaign about a question that would be asked during one of the primary meetings.

The President-elect appeared to suggest that the Democrats were only protesting against the role of the Russian state in the election – which some have claimed affected the result – because of those embarrassing admissions, or that the hacking should be permitted because of the information it revealed. He also looked to be attempting to deflect criticism of his refusal to condemn the hacking by passing further blame onto Hillary Clinton.

Mr Trump has in the past suggested either that the hacking was kept quiet by the White House, or that it had been concocted as a way of delegitimising his win.

Both tweets apparently ignored the fact that many spoke out about hacking before voting had begun and before it became clear that Donald Trump had won. In the Presidential debates, Hillary Clinton had made reference to the fact that Russia appeared to be interfering with the election by hacking emails and making them public.