CNN panel puzzles over where Trump’s getting his info on hacking: 'Maybe somebody with ties to Russia'

Monday morning's CNN panel seemed to give the president-elect a pass in their discussion about Donald Trump's latest comments about the Russian hacks.

Sunday, Trump claimed that he might have more information on Russia and the election hacks than the intelligence agencies. Trump has refused to take a daily intelligence briefing that would outline the facts about the Russian hacks but finally relented and agreed to do the briefing this week. He promised to reveal what information he has early this week. Trump's latest comments are reminiscent of past comments he made claiming that he knows more about ISIS than the generals.

The CNN panel also noted that it was interesting Trump would claim he has more information. They wondered where Trump might be getting his own intelligence information.

"These conclusions aren't just coming from one agency but from several intelligence and law enforcement agencies in the country, and you would think if that information had been distributed to Trump they would have also been distributed to President Obama or others," Abby Phillip of the Washington Post said. "But I put this in the category of things that Trump says where you have to basically just wait and see."

She went on to say that Trump once said that he sent investigators to Hawaii to look into President Obama's birth certificate but that never happened.

"It's not uncommon for Trump to make comments like this that have no basis in fact so we should wait and see if on Tuesday or Wednesday he has something to say that we don't know," Phillip continued.

Jackie Kucinich of the Daily Beast speculated that Trump could be talking about his own inside information from his own Russian allies.

"He does know I'm sure a lot of things that the rest of us don't know but maybe he means from somebody with ties to Russia," Kucinich said. "Maybe that's where he is getting some of his information."

Trump's new spokesman Sean Spicer blamed the media for what he indicated were unsubstantiated information about the Russian hacks. However, CNN host John Berman noted that it wasn't the media making these claims — it's senior senators on the Intelligence Committee.

"Yesterday you saw Tom Cotton talk about stronger sanctions toward Russia," Kucinich agreed. "There was no doubt in anything he said that Russia was responsible, where you saw Sean Spicer say you had to wait and see."

She noted Congress was going back into session and members are scheduled to hold hearings on the Russian hacking in which the intelligence community will be testifying.

"That's why the investigations that go on in Congress are going to be very interesting and important to watch," Kucinich said. "That all the facts are out there and we can see the overwhelming evidence — hopefully, we can see the overwhelming evidence that made lawmakers make up their mind on this issue but you do have intelligence officials on the record saying this now so just how Donald Trump handles this after he gets his briefing will be something that all of us will be watching."

Check out the full discussion below: