‘I Can See Both Sides’: Did Trump Think Kim Jong-un Was Justified in Hacking Sony Back in 2014?

During an appearance on The Wendy Williams Show in 2014, President-elect Donald Trump stated that he could see “both sides” of the equation regarding North Korea’s hack of Sony because Sony made a movie that had some “really vile things” in it about the country.

As you may recall, the FBI determined in December 2014 that the North Korean government was responsible for the hack. The hack was likely retaliation over the Seth Rogen-James Franco film The Interview, which featured a plot surrounding the assassination of Kim Jong-un.

Well, around the time Sony was dealing with the hack, Trump told host Wendy Williams that he doesn’t use email while commenting on computers. (And the use of courier.) He then went on to discuss the movie in relation to the cyberattack, saying he heard it was “terrible” but that he also “heard they did some very vile things…it wasn’t just assassination!”

“That’s pretty bad stuff,” Trump noted. “So I can see both sides of it.” He pointed out that “there are a lot of bad things you see in movies” and that this all seems “extortionary.” However, once again, he could “totally understand both sides.”

Of course, this is interesting in hindsight due to Trump’s recent statement of support for Julian Assange and his seeming defense of Russia amid hacking allegations, despite the intelligence community’s consensus that the country was responsible for hacking in an effort to influence the election.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Justin Baragona on Twitter: @justinbaragona

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