The Latest: Official says intel community ready for Trump

Intelligence officials have said Russia was behind the hacking of Democratic groups during the presidential campaign and sought to influence the election on Trump’s behalf. Trump has not accepted those conclusions.

President Barack Obama has ordered a review on the hacking to be completed before he leaves office. The U.S. official says the report has to go to Obama before other officials, including Trump.

— By Deb Riechmann

8:30 p.m.

President-elect Donald Trump says he’s scheduled to meet with intelligence officials Friday for a briefing on Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Trump tweeted the schedule update late Tuesday.

He is also reiterating his skepticism of the U.S. intelligence community, using quote marks around the word “intelligence.” He notes the briefing will be held later than initially expected, writing: “Perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange.”

Trump has clashed repeatedly with the intelligence community as he prepares to take office. Specifically, he’s taking issue with their assessment that the Russian government interfered with the election he won.

The president-elect has expressed far more confidence in Vladimir Putin, praising the Russian president before and after Election Day.

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7:15 p.m.

Donald Trump has announced plans to hold his first news conference since winning the presidency.

The president-elect tweeted Tuesday night that he would have “a general news conference” on Jan. 11 in New York City. That’s just nine days before he’s set to be sworn into office.

Trump has already waited longer than any other president in the modern era to hold his first news conference. Most have held such events within days of their elections.

It’s been several months since Trump held a formal news conference, although he has answered questions from reporters as recently as last week.

Trump has previously teased news conferences that have not materialized. He failed to follow through after promising to talk to reporters about his plans to limit conflicts of interest in mid-December.

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4:15 p.m.

Omarosa Manigault is getting hired.

A memorable contestant in the first season of “The Apprentice,” Manigault is expected to join President-elect Donald Trump’s White House staff, according to two people familiar with the decision. Her job is expected to focus on public engagement.

Manigault was one of Trump’s most prominent African-American supporters during the campaign and has been working with his transition team. This will be her second tour of duty at the White House — she worked in the office of Vice-President Al Gore during the Clinton Administration.

The Trump transition team did not respond to inquiries about Manigault’s role. The two people familiar with the decision insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the hiring process publicly.

— By Julie Pace and Julie Bykowicz

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2:34 p.m.

Veteran journalist Bob Woodward is attending private meetings in Trump Tower. But he won’t say whether he’s meeting with the president-elect.

The journalist made famous by his reliance on secret sources during the Watergate scandal was spotted on Tuesday getting on the elevators leading up to Trump’s private suite in the lobby of the incoming president’s Manhattan skyscraper.

Afterward, Woodward said he was “visiting a couple of people” and would come back “to see somebody else.”

Pressed for details, he said he agreed not to disclose details about the meetings.

Woodward said, “There’s no secrecy about it. It’s just that I’m doing my work.” He added, “It’s something I’m working on long term. I hope you’ll understand.”

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2:12 p.m.

Bill and Hillary Clinton plan to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration, putting the 2016 presidential rivals on the same platform only weeks after their tough campaign.

Aides to the former president and former secretary of state say the Clintons will attend the Jan. 20 inauguration. The announcement came shortly after former President George W. Bush’s office said he would attend along with former first lady Laura Bush.

Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, has largely avoided the public eye since Trump’s come-from-behind victory in November. As a former president and first lady, the couple faced the difficult decision of whether to attend the ceremony.

11:05 a.m.

The new U.N. secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, says he isn’t concerned about U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s remarks that the United Nations is a place to have a good time.

Guterres, who took over from Ban Ki-moon, said after arriving at U.N. headquarters in New York for the first time Tuesday that he is focused on getting all countries to come together to solve the multiplying conflicts and other “terrible problems” the world is facing, including terrorism, human rights violations, poverty and inequality.

After the United States allowed the U.N. Security Council to condemn Israeli settlements in the West Bank on Dec. 23 in a stunning rupture with past practice, Trump questioned the U.N.’s effectiveness.

“The United Nations has such great potential but right now it is just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time. So sad!,” he tweeted on Dec. 26.

Trump has also shown little interest in multilateralism, which Guterres stressed Tuesday is the “the cornerstone” of the United Nations.

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9:48 a.m.

President-elect Donald Trump will be given “more information” from the intelligence community about Russian interference in the U.S. election in the coming days.

That’s according to Vice-President-elect Mike Pence, who briefly addressed reporters on Tuesday as he entered Trump Tower.

Asked about Russia, Pence said “the president-elect will be receiving more information about that and other topics on the world stage” over the course of the coming days.

Trump’s team has been skeptical about intelligence reports that determined Russia interfered with the 2016 election.

Pence ignored a question about whether he had lost confidence in the U.S. intelligence community. Instead, he said it is “a new season” for America’s role in the world.

He added, “The world will see that with our president-elect taking office that America will be standing tall in the world again, engaging the world again, and standing firmly for America’s interests.”

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9:35 a.m.

Vice-President-elect Mike Pence has a message for Capitol Hill: “It’s time to get to work.”

President-elect Donald Trump’s second in command made the comment on Tuesday as he entered Trump Tower in New York as members of Congress convened in Washington for the first time in 2017.

Pence said he would spend Wednesday on Capitol Hill meeting with members of the House and Senate about the incoming administration’s agenda.

He said, “It’s time to keep our word to the American people.”

The priorities Pence mentioned were “repealing and replacing Obamacare” along with plans to “roll back” regulations.

Pence also said there would likely be another Cabinet announcement in the coming days.

The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

The Latest: Official says intel community ready for Trump

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