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Vladimir Putin "ordered" a campaign to influence the U.S. presidential election in an attempt by Russia to "undermine public faith in the US democratic process," according to a declassified report on Russian hacking activity.
"We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency," the report reads, citing Moscow's "longstanding desire to undermine the US-led liberal democratic order."
"We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump," it goes on to say and nursed a "grudge" against Clinton "for comments he almost certainly saw as disparaging him."
The elaborate campaign included, according to the report: *Covert operations such as "cyber activity" and overt operations through state-funded media and "paid social media users or 'trolls'." *Russian military intelligence relaying material to media outlets *And gaining access to "elements of multiple US state or local electoral boards" although it was clear to say those systems were "not involved in vote tallying."
But the report is mum on whether the campaign affected the outcome of the election. Trump won the Electoral College, with 304 votes, but lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million ballots.
Trump has consistently questioned and downplayed intelligence assessments about Russian hacking, saying at a presidential debate in September: "It could be Russia, but it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, OK?"
Today, he released a statement following his briefing on the matter which said "there was absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election including the fact that there was no tampering whatsoever with voting machines."
He did, however, concede that "Russia, China, other countries, outside groups and people are consistently trying to break through the cyber infrastructure of our governmental institutions, businesses and organizations including the Democrat National Committee," according to a statement.
"We also assess Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him," the report states, noting that while "all three agencies agree with this judgement, CIA and FBI have high confidence in this judgement; NSA has moderate confidence," the intelligence report said.
The report states that the Russian activity "evolved over the course of the campaign" and "began to focus" on Clinton "when it appeared to Moscow that Secretary Clinton was likely to win the election."
According to the report, the Russian "messaging strategy" included paying internet trolls.
"Moscow’s influence campaign followed a Russian messaging strategy that blends covert intelligence operations—such as cyber activity—with overt efforts by Russian Government agencies, state-funded media, third-party intermediaries, and paid social media users or 'trolls,'" the report said.
Specifically, the report said that Russian intelligence agencies "conducted cyber operations against targets associated with the 2016 US presidential election, including targets associated with both major US political parties."
It also concluded with "high confidence" that "Russian military intelligence (General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate or GRU) used the Guccifer 2.0 persona and DCLeaks.com to release US victim data obtained in cyber operations publicly and in exclusives to media outlets and relayed material to WikiLeaks."
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has repeatedly denied that they received the hacked emails from Democratic officials that they published from the Russian government.
“We can say, we have said, repeatedly over the last two months that our source is not the Russian government and it is not a state party,” Assange said to Fox News in an interview that aired Tuesday Jan. 3.
According to the report, "Russian intelligence obtained and maintained access to elements of multiple US state or local electoral boards."
President Barack Obama ordered the review on Dec. 9.
Obama and President-elect Donald Trump have been given detailed, but classified, briefings on the matter by the leaders of the U.S. intelligence agencies. Obama received his briefing on Thursday in Washington, while Trump was briefed in New York earlier today.
The Department of Homeland Security and the DNI first blamed Russia for hacking “US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations” on Oct. 7, saying that “only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities.”
The report released today says that DHS assessed that Russian intelligence "obtained and maintained access to elements of multiple US state or local electoral boards" but the specific systems that they access "Were not involved in vote tallying."
This is a breaking story. There is more to come. Please check back for the latest.
Putin 'Ordered' Effort to Influence US Election: Intel Report
"We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency," the report reads, citing Moscow's "longstanding desire to undermine the US-led liberal democratic order."
"We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump," it goes on to say and nursed a "grudge" against Clinton "for comments he almost certainly saw as disparaging him."
The elaborate campaign included, according to the report: *Covert operations such as "cyber activity" and overt operations through state-funded media and "paid social media users or 'trolls'." *Russian military intelligence relaying material to media outlets *And gaining access to "elements of multiple US state or local electoral boards" although it was clear to say those systems were "not involved in vote tallying."
But the report is mum on whether the campaign affected the outcome of the election. Trump won the Electoral College, with 304 votes, but lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million ballots.
Trump has consistently questioned and downplayed intelligence assessments about Russian hacking, saying at a presidential debate in September: "It could be Russia, but it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, OK?"
Today, he released a statement following his briefing on the matter which said "there was absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election including the fact that there was no tampering whatsoever with voting machines."
He did, however, concede that "Russia, China, other countries, outside groups and people are consistently trying to break through the cyber infrastructure of our governmental institutions, businesses and organizations including the Democrat National Committee," according to a statement.
"We also assess Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him," the report states, noting that while "all three agencies agree with this judgement, CIA and FBI have high confidence in this judgement; NSA has moderate confidence," the intelligence report said.
The report states that the Russian activity "evolved over the course of the campaign" and "began to focus" on Clinton "when it appeared to Moscow that Secretary Clinton was likely to win the election."
According to the report, the Russian "messaging strategy" included paying internet trolls.
"Moscow’s influence campaign followed a Russian messaging strategy that blends covert intelligence operations—such as cyber activity—with overt efforts by Russian Government agencies, state-funded media, third-party intermediaries, and paid social media users or 'trolls,'" the report said.
Specifically, the report said that Russian intelligence agencies "conducted cyber operations against targets associated with the 2016 US presidential election, including targets associated with both major US political parties."
It also concluded with "high confidence" that "Russian military intelligence (General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate or GRU) used the Guccifer 2.0 persona and DCLeaks.com to release US victim data obtained in cyber operations publicly and in exclusives to media outlets and relayed material to WikiLeaks."
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has repeatedly denied that they received the hacked emails from Democratic officials that they published from the Russian government.
“We can say, we have said, repeatedly over the last two months that our source is not the Russian government and it is not a state party,” Assange said to Fox News in an interview that aired Tuesday Jan. 3.
According to the report, "Russian intelligence obtained and maintained access to elements of multiple US state or local electoral boards."
President Barack Obama ordered the review on Dec. 9.
Obama and President-elect Donald Trump have been given detailed, but classified, briefings on the matter by the leaders of the U.S. intelligence agencies. Obama received his briefing on Thursday in Washington, while Trump was briefed in New York earlier today.
The Department of Homeland Security and the DNI first blamed Russia for hacking “US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations” on Oct. 7, saying that “only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities.”
The report released today says that DHS assessed that Russian intelligence "obtained and maintained access to elements of multiple US state or local electoral boards" but the specific systems that they access "Were not involved in vote tallying."
This is a breaking story. There is more to come. Please check back for the latest.
Putin 'Ordered' Effort to Influence US Election: Intel Report