Sen. John Kennedy on Tuesday walked back a statement he made Sunday when he said the Democratic National Committee was hacked by Ukraine.
In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, host Chris Wallace asked Mr. Kennedy: “Who do you believe was responsible for hacking the DNC and Clinton campaign computers, their emails? Was it Russia or Ukraine?”
“I don’t know, nor do you, nor do any others,” the Louisiana Republican answered.
“Let me just interrupt to say the entire intelligence community says it was Russia,” Mr. Wallace said.
“Right, but it could also be Ukraine,” Mr. Kennedy said.
Mr. Kennedy’s answer was widely panned across television networks and on social media as furthering a baseless conspiracy pushed by Russia and going against American intelligence.
He later walked back his comments in a Monday night interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo, saying he “was wrong” and claimed to have misheard Mr. Wallace’s question.
“I was answering one of his questions, and he interjected a statement and asked me to react to it. What I heard Chris say was — he made the statement that only Russia had tried to interfere in the election. And I answered the question,” Mr. Kennedy said.
“That’s not what he said. I went back and looked at the transcript. He said only Russia tried to hack the DNC computer. Now, Chris is right. I was wrong. The only evidence I have, and I think it’s overwhelming, is that it was Russia to tried to hack the DNC computer. … I’ve seen no indication that Ukraine tried to do it,” he continued.
• Bailey Vogt can be reached at bvogt@washingtontimes.com.
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