CIA Says Russia
Intervened To Help Trump Win White House: Washington
Post
By Reuters
December 11,
2016 "Information
Clearing House"
- "Reuters"
-
The CIA has
concluded that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to
help President-elect Donald Trump win the White House,
and not just to undermine confidence in the U.S.
electoral system, the
Washington Post
reported on
Friday.
Citing U.S.
officials briefed on the matter, the Post said
intelligence agencies had identified individuals with
connections to the Russian government who provided
thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National
Committee and others, including the chairman of Hillary
Clinton's presidential campaign, to WikiLeaks.
The officials
described the individuals as people known to the
intelligence community who were part of a wider Russian
operation to boost Trump and reduce Clinton's chances of
winning the election.
"It is the
assessment of the intelligence community that Russia’s
goal here was to favor one candidate over the other, to
help Trump get elected," the Post quoted a senior U.S.
official as saying. "That's the consensus view."
The Post said
the official had been briefed on an intelligence
presentation made by the Central Intelligence Agency to
key U.S. senators behind closed-doors last week.
The CIA, in
what the Post said was a secret assessment, cited a
growing body of evidence from multiple sources. Briefers
told the senators it was now "quite clear" that electing
Trump was Russia's goal, the Post quoted officials as
saying on condition of anonymity.
In October, the
U.S. government formally accused Russia of a campaign of
cyber attacks against Democratic Party organizations
ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election.
President
Barack Obama has said he warned Russian President
Vladimir Putin about consequences for the attacks. But
Russian officials have denied all accusations of
interference in the U.S. election.
A CIA
spokeswoman said the agency had no comment on the
report.
Trump has said
he is not convinced Russia was behind the cyber attacks.
His transition team issued a statement on "claims of
foreign interference in U.S. elections" on Friday but
did not directly address the issue.
The hacked
emails passed to WikiLeaks were a regular source of
embarrassment to the Clinton campaign during the race
for the presidency.
The CIA
presentation fell short of a formal U.S. assessment by
all 17 U.S. intelligence agencies, the Post said. A
senior U.S. official said there remained minor
disagreements among intelligence officials about the
assessment because some questions are unanswered, it
said.
Intelligence
agencies did not have specific intelligence showing the
Kremlin directed the individuals to pass the hacked
emails to WikiLeaks, another senior official told the
Post. The actors were "one step" removed from the
Russian government rather than government employees, the
official said.
WikiLeaks
founder Julian Assange has said in a television
interview that the Russian government was not the source
of the emails, the Post said.
(Writing by
David Alexander; Editing by Tom Brown, Robert Birsel)
Donald Trump says CIA charge Russia influenced election
is 'ridiculous'
Guardian staff and agencies
December 11, 2016 "Information
Clearing House"
- "The
Guardian"
-
Donald Trump has said the CIA’s conclusion that Russia
interfered in the presidential election is “ridiculous”
and being used by Democrats as “just another excuse” for
his defeat of Hillary Clinton.
But he added
that in any such effort, “you should not just say
‘Russia’. You should say other countries also, and maybe
other individuals.”
The Obama
administration has said the review is not just about
Russia or the election. The White House says the
report will look at other election-year incidents,
including 2008 and 2012 cyber-attacks linked to Chinese
hackers.
Trump has long
said the culprit for such attacks could be China or just
a hacker sitting on a couch. The
CIA has concluded with “high confidence” that Russia
sought to influence the US election on behalf of the
Republican.
The Republican
president-elect also questioned whether the CIA was
behind the reports that indicated Moscow wanted him in
the White House. “I think the Democrats are putting it
out,” he said.
Two leading
Republican voices on foreign policy in the Senate, John
McCain and Lindsey Graham, joined two Democratic
senators on Sunday in expressing concern over the
reports on Russian interference and saying it could not
become a partisan issue.
“For years,
foreign adversaries have directed cyber attacks at
America’s physical, economic, and military
infrastructure, while stealing our intellectual
property,” the senators, including Democrats Chuck
Schumer and Jack Reed, said in a statement.
“Now our
democratic institutions have been targeted. Recent
reports of Russian interference in our election should
alarm every American.”
US intelligence
agencies have told Congress and the Obama administration
Russia has grown increasingly aggressive in Syria and
Ukraine and has stepped up activities in cyberspace.
“This cannot
become a partisan issue,” the senators said. “The stakes
are too high for our country.”
Trump’s chief
of staff, however, said it was “insane” to suggest that
Russian hacking influenced the outcome of the election
and added that the Russians “didn’t tell Hillary Clinton
to ignore Wisconsin and Michigan”.
Reince Priebus
told ABC’s This Week that Clinton “ignored states that
she shouldn’t have, and Donald Trump was the change
agent …
Donald Trump won in an electoral landslide that had
nothing to do with the Russians.”
McCain and
Graham are among those senators who will likely play key
roles in any confirmation hearing for Rex Tillerson, the
Exxon Mobil chief executive who was said
by Trump aides speaking anonymously on Saturday to
be the most likely pick for secretary of state.
Tillerson is
close to Russian president Vladimir Putin, who gave him
Russia’s highest award in 2013, has done extensive
business in Russia, and has spoken out against sanctions
imposed after the annexation of Crimea and aggression in
eastern Ukraine.
Praising
Tillerson in his interview with Fox News Sunday, Trump
said: “To me a great advantage is that he knows many of
the players in the world and he knows them well.”
He added: “He
does massive deals in Russia not for himself, but for
the company.”
Speaking to CNN
on Saturday, McCain said: “I have obviously concerns
about his relationship with
Vladimir Putin, who is a thug and a murderer, but
obviously we will have hearings on that issue and other
issues concerning him will be examined and then it’s the
time to make up your mind on whether to vote yes or no.”
“The fact that
he has a relationship with Vladimir Putin and other
across the globe is not something we should be
embarrassed by,” said Priebus on ABC. “I think it would
be an advantage for the United States.”
Priebus said
that although the final choice had not been made, he had
no concern about a confirmation for Tillerson, who he
said was “incredibly talented and would do an incredible
job as secretary of state”.
The Kentucky
senator Rand Paul, a member of the Senate foreign
relations committee, told ABC he had an open mind on
Tillerson but flatly rejected the prospect of Bush
administration United Nations ambassador John Bolton
serving as an undersecretary at the state department, as
has been reported.
Bolton, a
foreign policy hawk, was “an automatic no”, Paul said,
who “should get nowhere near the state department”.
Later on Sunday
morning, Trump
tweeted: “Whether I choose him or not for “State”-
Rex Tillerson, the Chairman & CEO of ExxonMobil, is a
world class player and dealmaker. Stay tuned!”
FULL Interview: Donald Trump at FOX News Sunday
(Special) | Dec 11, 2016 | Russian Hacking
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