Donald Trump appeared to question the FBI’s conclusion just hours after the agency identified North Korea as responsible for what it described as the largest hack in history.
On Saturday evening, the FBI said its investigation found that TraderTraitor, a North Korean cyber group, carried out an unprecedented attack on Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Binance said Thursday that the estimated damage was “around $6.3 billion,” placing the incident among the most serious cybersecurity breaches ever recorded.
TraderTraitor is believed to be linked to the Lazarus Group, which drew international attention in 2014 after being accused of hacking Sony Pictures in retaliation for The Interview, a comedy depicting the fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Trump has often referred to Kim as “Little Rocket Man” while criticizing North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
Yet after the FBI’s Cyber Branch released its findings, Trump responded cautiously, saying he was not certain North Korea was behind the attack.
Asked about the investigation by a reporter at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday night, Trump said his administration was still “learning about” the incident.
“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 challenged the FBI’s assessment of a North Korean role in the hack on Saturday. The president and Kim have maintained a complicated relationship, pictured here together in 2018
TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking group, has been accused of targeting Binance. Kim Jong Un has not publicly repudiated previous investigations linking the group to cyberattacks
The FBI, led by Director Kash Patel, said Saturday that its investigation uncovered an unprecedented attack against Binance
Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said in a video message Friday that the company was “working nonstop” and “committed to covering all hack losses.” He also sought to reassure customers that their “assets were safe.”
“This was a complex attack,” Teng said, explaining that the hackers deployed a self-destruct mechanism that complicated efforts to track the operation.
Binance said Saturday that it had replaced 90 percent of the stolen cryptocurrency. The remaining 10 percent, the company said, would take longer to reacquire because the affected tokens were less liquid.
TraderTraitor has a long record of sophisticated, multibillion-dollar cybercrimes. The group has been linked to several elaborate fraud operations, dating back to the 2014 attack on Sony Pictures following the release of The Interview, a fictional comedy about the killing of North Korea’s leader.
North Korea has never officially accepted responsibility for that breach. However, the country’s extensive hacking network has become a key component of its international operations. A United Nations panel reported in 2024 that cyberattacks generated roughly half of North Korea’s foreign-currency income.
Security officials have repeatedly warned that proceeds from cyberattacks help fund North Korea’s military and nuclear weapons programs.
Our News Outlet has contacted the White House and the FBI for comment.
The FBI’s announcement comes against a tense international backdrop and as relations between Trump and Kim appear increasingly strained.
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Earlier this month, five people familiar with the relationship told Reuters that the prospects for a meeting between the two leaders this year were diminishing.
At Mar-a-Lago on Saturday, Trump said “we don’t know if it’s North Korea,” despite the FBI attributing the attack to TraderTraitor
The United States reportedly received no response from Pyongyang regarding efforts to arrange a meeting before a regional summit in China scheduled for November.
Asked about the possibility of meeting 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 continued to meet with other foreign leaders. Last weekend, he made a surprise visit to the Chinese border for talks with one of President Xi Jinping’s senior officials.
In September, Kim attended a military parade in Beijing alongside Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Xi also traveled to North Korea over the summer, marking his first visit there in seven years.
During his first term, Trump became the first sitting US president to enter North Korea when he met Kim at the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
At the time, Trump said he had “no problem” visiting the country and was “proud to step over the line.”
Kim Jong Un has not arranged another meeting with Trump but met a senior Chinese official earlier this month
Later that year, Trump said Kim had sent him a “beautiful letter.” In 2020, Kim also sent a message wishing the US president well after Trump tested positive for Covid-19.
Patricia Kim, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told the Washington Post that the geopolitical environment has changed dramatically since Trump and Kim first met in 2018.
“Back then, Washington was negotiating from a position of considerably greater leverage,” she said.
“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 repeatedly pledged to prevent nuclear weapons and related capabilities from reaching foreign adversaries.
That objective helped draw the United States into war with Iran and drove diplomatic engagement with North Korea.
Kim Jong Un has also strengthened his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two leaders are pictured together in Beijing last year
In 2018, Trump and Kim issued a joint statement committing to the denuclearization of North Korea. The White House hailed the agreement as an “epochal event of great significance in overcoming decades of tensions.”
Since then, however, North Korea has continued expanding its nuclear arsenal, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Kim has criticized the US war in Iran while providing ammunition and troops to Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, further tightening ties between Pyongyang and Moscow.
As the global balance shifts, Washington has fewer leverage points available to pressure North Korea over cybercrime.
