Donald Trump appeared to contradict the Federal Bureau of Investigation just hours after the agency said North Korea was behind the ‘biggest hack in history.’
The FBI asserted on Saturday evening that an investigation uncovered an unprecedented hack targeting Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, was executed by the North Korean malicious cyber group, TraderTraitor.
Binance said on Thursday that the estimated total impact was ‘around $6.3 billion,’ making the hack one of the most significant security incidents on record.
TraderTraitor is believed to be part of Lazarus Group, which gained notoriety in 2014 when it was accused of hacking into Sony Pictures as revenge for The Interview, a film that mocked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Trump has frequently referred to Kim as ‘Little Rocket Man,’ jabbing him over the country’s nuclear arsenal.
After the FBI’s Cyber Branch announced the findings, Trump offered a flippant response to the hack and said he unsure if North Korea was behind the scheme.
When asked about the findings by a reporter on Saturday night at Mar-a-Lago, Trump said his administration was ‘learning about’ what happened.
‘We don’t know if it’s North Korea,’ he said.
‘But if it is, we’ll talk to North Korea about it.’
Trump added: ‘I’ve always felt it was a little bit dangerous. But they say they have it pretty much under control. We’ll see.’
Donald Trump contradicted the FBI when asked about an investigation into North Korean hackers on Saturday. The two have a complicated relationship and are pictured above together in 2018
The North Korean hacker group, TraderTraitor, has been accused of hacking Binance. Kim Jong-Un has not denounced other investigations into the group
The FBI, under Director Kash Patel, wrote on Saturday, that an investigation uncovered an unprecedented hack targeting Binance
Binance’s co-CEO Richard Teng said in a video message on Friday that the company was ‘working nonstop’ and was ‘committed to covering all hack losses,’ assuring traders that their ‘assets were safe.’
‘This was a complex attack,’ Teng said. He explained that the attacker used a self-destruct mechanism that made it difficult to trace.
Binance said on Saturday that they had replaced 90 per cent of the crypto stolen and the remaining 10 per cent would ‘take longer to buy’ because the tokens were ‘less liquid.’
TraderTraitor is no novice when it comes to elite multi-billion-dollar hacks. The elite hacker group has been at the center of multiple elaborate fraud schemes, dating back to 2014 when they infamously hacked Sony Pictures after the release of the comedy film The Interview, a fictional spoof of the killing of the North Korean leader.
The country never took responsibility for the attack. North Korea’s complex hacker regime has become integral to its foreign operations. A UN panel discovered in 2024 that cyberattacks generated about half of the country’s foreign currency income.
Security officials have previously warned that cyberattacks have equated to financial support for North Korea’s military and nuclear-weapons program.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House and the FBI for comment.
The FBI’s investigation comes amid a complicated international picture and an increasingly frayed relationship between Trump and Kim.
Earlier this month, five people with knowledge of their relationship told Reuters that the possibility of a meeting between the two world leaders was fading.
Donald Trump told a reporter at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday that ‘we don’t know if it’s North Korea’ despite the FBI’s statement pinning it on TraderTraitor
The US reportedly did not receive a response from North Korea on organizing a meeting before a regional summit in China in November.
When asked about meeting with Kim, Trump told reporters at the White House: ‘I get along with him very well, and I’m not sure that anybody’s asking for a meeting.’
Kim has not shied away from meetings with other world leaders. He arrived at the Chinese border last weekend for a surprise meeting with one of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s top lieutenants.
In September, Kim joined Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin for a military parade in Beijing. Xi also visited North Korea over the summer for the first time in seven years.
Trump became the first US president to set foot in North Korea during his first term, meeting with Kim at the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
He said at the time that he had ‘no problem’ going to the country and was ‘proud to step over the line.’
Kim Jong Un has not scheduled a meeting with Trump, but met with a high-ranking official in China earlier this month
Later that year, Trump told reporters he received a ‘beautiful letter’ from Kim. In 2020, Kim sent a get-well message to the US president after he tested positive for Covid-19.
Patricia Kim, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told the Washington Post that the geopolitical landscape has shifted significantly since the two world leaders first met in 2018.
‘Back then, Washington was negotiating from a position of considerably greater leverage,’ she argued.
‘Today, Kim is in a much stronger position. He is far less diplomatically isolated, having forged a new security partnership with Moscow and deepened its economic and political ties with Beijing. And he’s done this all while continuing to expand North Korea’s nuclear and missile capabilities.’
Trump has continually promised to keep nuclear capabilities out of the hands of foreign adversaries.
This foreign policy goal launched the US into a war with Iran and prompted negotiations with North Korea.
Jong Un has also strengthened ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two are pictured above together in Beijing last year
In 2018, Trump and Kim released a joint statement on North Korea’s denuclearization. The White House called the step an ‘epochal event of great significance in overcoming decades of tensions.’
However, in the years since, North Korea has only increased its nuclear arsenal, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Kim has condemned the US’s war in Iran but has supplied ammunition and troops to Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, deepening ties between Pyongyang and Moscow.
As the foreign landscape changes, the US has fewer bargaining chips to hold North Korea accountable for cybercrime.
