Intelligence officials on Friday released their highly anticipated report which concluded conclusively that Russian President Vladimir Putin directed efforts to interfere in the 2016 election, with the goal of helping Donald Trump win.
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Putin ordered ‘influence campaign’ to help Trump win election
The report which was prepared by the CIA, the FBI and the National Security Agency, confirmed their earlier assertions that Russia was responsible for cyber attacks directed at the Democratic National Committee.
“Russian efforts to influence the 2016 US presidential election represent the most recent expression of Moscow’s longstanding desire to undermine the US-led liberal democratic order, but these activities demonstrated a significant escalation in directness, level of activity, and scope of effort compared to previous operations,” was the conclusion of the intelligence community in the declassified version of the report.
The intelligence community’s conclusions were part of a declassified intelligence report, ordered by President Obama, that was released Friday afternoon.
The main conclusions of the report were given to Donald Trump by intelligence officials earlier in the day, to which Trump’s response seemed to acknowledge that Russia interfered in the election but Trump did not acknowledge the conclusion that Vladamir Putin intended to help his campaign.
The New York Times is reporting: “The report described a broad campaign that included covert operations, including cyberactivities, with ‘trolling’ and ‘fake news.’ In the unclassified version of the report, the intelligence agencies also concluded “with high confidence” that Russia’s main military intelligence unit, the G.R.U., created the “persona” called Guccifer 2.0 and a website, DCLeaks.com, to release the emails of the Democratic National Committee and the chairman of the Clinton campaign, John D. Podesta.”
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“Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump”
Another portion of the report said, “Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump.”
“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,” officials continued.
The intelligence community said that the Russian election interference was in retaliation for what Putin perceived as U.S. efforts to undermine Russian credibility. Vladamir Putin feels the Panama Papers and the Olympic doping scandal as “U.S.-directed efforts to defame Russia,” according to the report. Leaking unflattering emails from U.S. officials was an effort to cast America as hypocritical, officials said.
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