Trump tweets he will receive intelligence briefing on 'so-called' Russian hacking this week

President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter on Tuesday (3 January) to announce that he is slated to be briefed this week by US intelligence officials on allegations of Russian hacking during the 2016 US presidential election. Trump wrote in a post that he would receive the intelligence briefing on Friday (6 January), adding that the briefing had been "delayed".

In his tweet, Trump again expressed doubts about Russia's involvement in the cyberattacks that occurred during the election, including the high-profile DNC hack, as well as the email hack that targeted Clinton campaign chief John Podesta.

Trump's tweet read: "The 'intelligence' briefing on so-called 'Russian hacking' was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!"

However, according to a tweet posted by NBC News correspondent Hallie Jackson, senior US intelligence officials reportedly spoke to NBC News national security reporter Ken Dilanian, claiming that Trump's tweet was "adversarial". Intelligence officials reportedly claimed that the plan was always for the heads of the CIA, NSA, FBI as well as the DNI to brief Trump on Russian hacking on Friday.

According to a New York Times report, a spokesperson for the DNI declined to comment on the president-elect's claims. However, senior administration officials disputed Trump's claims, adding that no meeting had been scheduled for Tuesday (3 January).

It is still unclear whether the intelligence briefing had been scheduled for earlier than Friday.

Earlier in the week, Trump spokesperson and incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer claimed that there was "zero evidence" of Russian hacking having influenced the US presidential election. He also alluded to a "final" intelligence report, due to be reviewed by Trump and his team soon, which would provide details on the matter. Spicer stressed on not jumping to conclusions and pointing fingers, before the final report was provided to Trump and his team.

However, CIA director John O Brennan defended the US intelligence agencies' allegations of Russian hacking and interference in the US election. Brennan said in an interview aired on Tuesday on PBS NewsHour: "I would suggest to individuals who have not yet seen the report, who have not yet been briefed on it, that they wait and see what it is that the intelligence community is putting forward before they make those judgments."