The US government needs to present evidence that Russia interfered in last month’s elections, a spokesman for President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday.

“If the United States has clear proof of anyone interfering with our elections, we should make that known,” Sean Spicer said in a conference call with reporters.

“Right now we need to see further facts,” the future White House press secretary said, explaining that Trump is open to changing his opinion on the matter if the evidence warrants.

President Barack Obama says the US will “take measures” against Russia in retaliation for Moscow’s alleged hacking of Democratic National Committee e-mails that put Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her team in a negative light.

The claim of Russian meddling arose following the publication by WikiLeaks of e-mails from the DNC and from Clinton campaign chair John Podesta.

The DNC communications showed that that supposedly neutral body was anxious to ensure that Clinton defeated Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries.

The CIA has concluded that Russia intervened to help Trump win the election, though WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has gone on record more than once that Russia was not the source of the material he published.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, US intelligence officials have told the press that they are certain Russian President Vladimir Putin was directly involved in the putative hacking.

US media outlets report that punitive measures against Russia will be announced soon.

Spicer suggested Thursday that some of the talk of Russian meddling is rooted in opposition to Trump.

“I think you have a lot of folks on the left who continue to undermine the legitimacy of his win and the nature of how big that win was,” the spokesman said.

Earlier this month, a group calling itself Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) said in a memorandum that the allegations of Russian interference in the election were “sadly, evidence-free.”

“This is no surprise, because harder evidence of a technical nature points to an inside leak, not hacking – by Russians or anyone else,” the group of former intelligence officials said.

“We have gone through the various claims about hacking. For us, it is child’s play to dismiss them. The email disclosures in question are the result of a leak, not a hack,” VIPS said.

The group, whose members include former senior CIA, NSA and State Department intelligence officers, said the information was likely removed physically, using some kind of data storage hardware.

“All signs point to leaking, not hacking. If hacking were involved, the National Security Agency would know it – and know both sender and recipient,” VIPS said. EFE