First Read: Trump's Credibility Problem on Russia
Read is a morning briefing fss and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter.


As President-elect Donald Trump fills out his Cabinet, he's opening up a new rift with the CIA over reports that Russia tried to interfere with the election. NBC's Kristen Welker reports for TODAY.
Trump's credibility problem on Russia
It wasn't just President-elect Donald Trump's kind words about Vladimir Putin during the 2016 presidential campaign. Or his repeated denials that Russia was involved in the hacking of the Clinton campaign's and DNC's emails. ("They have no idea if it's Russia or China or somebody," Trump told Fox on Sunday. "It could be somebody sitting in a bed some place. I mean, they have no idea.") Or the Trump team's extraordinary statement on Friday blasting the CIA after the Washington Post first reported that the agency concluded that Russia intervened in the election to help Trump win. "These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It's now time to move on and 'Make America Great Again,'" Trump's transition said Friday night." When you add up ALL of these stories, Trump has a credibility problem with it comes to Russia. Why not take a foreign government's suspected interference in an American election seriously? Why not demand a full investigation? And why lash out at the CIA? These questions make everything Trump touches regarding Russia look suspect -- all before he takes office next month.