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, a senior U.S. official said on Friday.
U.S. intelligence
agencies have assessed that as the 2016 presidential campaign drew on, Russian
government officials devoted increasing attention to assisting Donald Trump's
effort to win the election, the U.S. official familiar with the finding told
Reuters on Friday night on condition of anonymity.
Citing U.S.
officials briefed on the matter, the Washington Post reported on Friday that
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.
As summer turned to
fall, Russian hackers turned almost all their attention to the Democrats. Virtually
all the emails they released publicly were potentially damaging to Clinton and
the Democrats, the official told Reuters.
"That was a
major clue to their intent," the official said. "If all they wanted
to do was discredit our political system, why publicize the failings of just
one party, especially when you have a target like Trump?"
A second official
familiar with the report said the intelligence analysts' conclusion about
Russia's motives does not mean the intelligence community believes that Moscow's
efforts altered or significantly affected the outcome of the election.
Russian officials
have denied all accusations of interference in the U.S. election.
A CIA spokeswoman
said the agency had no comment on the matter.
The hacked emails
passed to WikiLeaks were a regular source of embarrassment to the Clinton
campaign during the race for the presidency.
U.S. intelligence
analysts have assessed "with high confidence" that at some point in
the extended presidential campaign Russian President Vladimir Putin's
government had decided to try to bolster Trump's chances of winning.
The Russians appear
to have concluded that Trump had a shot at winning and that he would be much
friendlier to Russia than Clinton would be, especially on issues such as
maintaining economic sanctions and imposing additional ones, the official said.
Moscow is launching
a similar effort to influence the next German election, following an escalating
campaign to promote far-right and nationalist political parties and individuals
in Europe that began more than a decade ago, the official said.
In both cases, said
the official, Putin's campaigns in both Europe and the United States are
intended to disrupt and discredit the Western concept of democracy by promoting
extremist candidates, parties, and political figures.
REUTERS
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