Trump Calls For Investigation Of Media Leaks From Russian Hacking Report

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump

WASHINGTON -- President-elect Donald Trump has called for a congressional investigation into an NBC News report featuring details from a classified intelligence report about alleged Russian computer hacking targeting U.S. elections.

Trump made the extraordinary call on January 6 shortly before his own scheduled briefing with top U.S. intelligence officials about the report.

"I am asking the chairs of the House and Senate committees to investigate top secret intelligence shared with NBC prior to me seeing it," Trump wrote on Twitter.

There was no immediate response from congressional leaders, Democrat or Republican. Many lawmakers have endorsed the conclusions of intelligence agencies that Russia-government backed hackers stole e-mails from U.S. political organizations.

Trump has repeatedly voiced skepticism about those conclusions.

The e-mails are widely seen as having damaged Trump's Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, after they were published by WikiLeaks and others ahead of the November 8 election.

The NBC News report on January 5 cited two unnamed intelligence officials reportedly involved in preparing the report ordered by President Barack Obama.

NBC News reported that the intelligence document concludes, among other things, that the hacks were payback for the Obama administration's questioning of Vladimir Putin's legitimacy as Russia's president.