Please Subscribe: goo.gl/ONDGRM
Russian President 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."