Trump at odds with FBI as he disputes assertion that North Korea was behind 'biggest hack in history'... while president risks being made to look like a fool by 'Little Rocket Man'

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.

Trump disputes FBI findings on Mar-a-Lago

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.”

Binance response and recovery efforts

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.

Geopolitical tensions and shifting alliances

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 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.

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.”