CIA says Russia helped Trump to victory

>> WASHINGTON: 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 US electoral system, a senior US official said on Friday.

US intelligence agencies have assessed that as the 2016 presidential campaign drew on, Russian government officials devoted increasing attention to assisting Mr Trump’s effort to win the election, the US official said on Friday night on condition of anonymity.

Citing US 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.

US President Barack Obama ordered intelligence agencies to review cyber attacks and foreign intervention into the 2016 election and deliver a report before he leaves office on Jan 20, the White House said on Friday.

As summer turned to autumn, Russian hackers turned almost all their attention to the Democrats. Virtually all the emails they released publicly were potentially damaging to Ms Clinton and the Democrats, the official said.

“That was a major clue to their intent,” the official said.

“If all they wanted to do was discredit our political system, why publicise 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 US 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.

US 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 Mr Trump’s chances of winning.

The Russians appear to have concluded that Mr Trump had a shot at winning and that he would be much friendlier to Russia than Mrs 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, the official said.

In both cases, said the official, Mr 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 and parties.

In October, the US government formally accused Russia of a campaign of cyber attacks against Democratic Party organisations ahead of the Nov 8 presidential election.

Incumbent US President Barack Obama has said he warned Mr Putin about consequences for the attacks.

Mr 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 US elections” but did not directly address the issue.