US intel report: Putin directed cyber campaign to help Trump
WASHINGTON – Reuters
US President-elect Donald Trump (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin are seen in these file photos. / AFP Photo
Russian
President Vladimir Putin ordered an effort to help Republican Donald
Trump's electoral chances by discrediting Democrat Hillary Clinton in
the 2016 presidential campaign, U.S. intelligence agencies said in an
assessment on Jan. 6.
Russia's
objectives were to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic
process, denigrate former Secretary of State Clinton, make it harder
for her to win and harm her presidency if she did, an unclassified
report released by the top U.S. intelligence agency said.
"We
assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign
in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election," the report
said. "We further assess Putin and the Russian Government
developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump. We have high
confidence in these judgments."
The
report, although it omitted classified details, was the U.S.
government's starkest public description of what it says was an
unprecedented Russian campaign to manipulate the American body
politic.
Reports
of Russian interference in the already divisive election have roiled
Washington, even as the U.S. Congress on Friday certified Trump’s
victory in the Electoral College. Clinton won the popular vote by
nearly 3 million ballots.
The
report's conclusions, though lacking details of how the Russians may
have relayed the material to WikiLeaks and others, will give
ammunition to Democrats and Trump's fellow Republicans in Congress
who want tougher action against Russia, setting the scene for a
potential showdown with Trump.
It
could also give a boost to members of Congress seeking an
independent, bipartisan investigation of Russian hacking.
Trump,
who has developed a rocky relationship with U.S. spy agencies and at
times disparaged their work, defended the legitimacy of his election
victory after receiving a nearly two-hour briefing on Jan. 6 on the
report.
“Gross
negligence by the Democratic National Committee allowed hacking to
take place.The Republican National Committee had strong defense!”
tweeted Trump on Jan. 6.
The
report neither assessed "the impact Russian activities had on
the outcome of the 2016 election" nor did it provide details on
the evidence underpinning its conclusions, a fact likely to keep
alive the controversy over what Moscow may have done.
Russia
denies the U.S. government's allegations of hacking during the
election campaign.
The
report said U.S. intelligence agencies believe Russian military
intelligence, the GRU, used intermediaries such as WikiLeaks,
DCLeaks.com and the Guccifer 2.0 "persona" to release
emails that it had acquired from the Democratic National Committee
(DNC) and top Democrats as part of the effort.
The
release of the emails led to embarrassing media coverage for Clinton
and triggered the resignation of the DNC's chief.
WikiLeaks
founder Julian Assange has said he did not receive emails stolen from
the DNC and top Clinton aide John Podesta from "a state party."
However, Assange did not rule out the possibility that he got the
material from a third party.