Trump Continues To Refute CIA Claims, Considers Exxon Mobil CEO For Secretary Of State
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- As president-elect Donald Trump continues to contemplate who he will nominate for Secretary of State, his team is pushing back against CIA claims that Russia helped influence the outcome of the election in Trump's favor.
The news was first reported Friday night by the Washington Post after the CIA shared the secret assessment with a group of United States senators.
Trump's transition team released a statement, saying "these are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The election ended a long time ago."
"The transition team and Trump himself are going to view this through a partisan lens regardless of what the results are, and are going to say this is an attempt to de-legitimize his win," Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell told CBS News.
On Saturday, the president-elect met with Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson for the second time.
CBS News has learned Tillerson is Trump's top candidate for Secretary of State.
"He's a great man, we'll see what happens," Trump said.
After the meeting, the president-elect attended the annual rivalry Army-Navy football game.
As for the CIA claims, Russia denies doing anything to disrupt the election.
President Barack Obama has ordered a full investigation, which is expected to be completed before he leaves office.