Secretary of State Mike Pompeo acknowledged — after prodding by lawmakers — that he backs the finding by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in the U.S. presidential campaign to hurt Hillary Clinton and ultimately help Donald Trump.
Pompeo, who previously was Trump's CIA director, was pressed by Democrats on whether he accepted that finding during testimony Wednesday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
"Yes, sir," he said. But that was only after he initially said the judgment that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to help Trump win "was the least confirmed, that is, there was the least support for that" in the report issued by the CIA, the FBI and the National Security Agency in January 2017, a few weeks before Trump took office.