President-elect Donald Trump dismissed a CIA assessment that Russia provided WikiLeaks hacked emails in order to help him win the election.
"I think it's ridiculous," Trump said in an interview with Fox News broadcast Sunday. "I think it's just another excuse."
Trump said he doesn't believe the report, and doesn't know why it came out. When asked about Democrats in the House asking for a probe into the hacking and President Barack Obama ordering a review, Trump said Obama has been respectful about the change of power process. He also pointed out that people should investigate other countries and individuals outside of Russia.
"They talk about all sorts of things," he said. "We had a massive landslide victory as you know in the Electoral College. I guess the final numbers are 306, and she's down to a very low number. No, I don't believe that at all."
Actually, Trump's unofficial 306 to 232 margin over Hillary Clinton ranked 46th of the 58 Electoral College votes for president in terms of percentage (56.9 percent).
The New York Times reported American intelligence agencies have "high confidence" that Russia intervened in the later stages of the 2016 election to help Trump win the presidency. Senior administration officials said the Russian government gave WikiLeaks emails from the Democratic National Committee and from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. The agencies also found evidence that Russia hacked the Republican National Committee's computer systems, but did not release the information.
Trump also addressed taking an unprecedented phone call from Taiwan, saying he was notified of the short congratulatory call a few hours before it came in.
"I fully understand the 'one China policy,' but I don't know why we have to be bound unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade," Trump said.
The call was the first time a president-elect or president had contact with Taiwan since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, according to Reuters.
The president-elect said it would have been "very disrespectful" not to take the call, and pointed out that China has been linked to devaluation of the American dollar, placing heavy taxes on American goods coming into its country, and building a "fortress" in the South China Sea. He also said that its biggest fault was "frankly not helping us with North Korea."
"I don't want China dictating to me, and this was a call put into me," Trump said. "It was a very nice call. Short. And why should some other nation be able to say I can't take a call?"
The president-elect brushed off the need for daily intelligence briefs, according to The New York Times. He said his vice president, Mike Pence, would receive them, and he would take them "when I need it."
"You know, I'm, like, a smart person," he said. "I don't have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years," he said.
In addition, Trump will discuss his potential picks for secretary of State, which include Exxon Mobil Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Mitt Romney.
He also addressed how he believed maintaining a stake in NBC's "The New Celebrity Apprentice" and his real estate holdings was not a conflict of interest since he wasn't actively managing the companies. Trump added last week he turned down seven deals with "one big player, great player" worth $1 billion because it may be perceived as a conflict of interest.
Disclosure: NBC is owned by NBCUniversal, which is the parent company of CNBC.