CIA, FBI, NSA agree Putin tried to 'help President-elect Trump's election chances'

The Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the National Security Agency on Friday released a declassified report about the 2016 Russian hacks of the Democratic National Committee and the emails of Hillary Clinton's campaign chair, John Podesta. The report concludes: "Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election. Russia's goals were to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency."

The report added, "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." The report also cited the intentional use of "paid social media users or 'trolls'" to influence the election.

All three agencies were in agreement on the findings, though Trump himself has cast doubt: After receiving a more detailed, classified report earlier Friday regarding the findings, Trump released a statement asserting "there was absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election, including the fact that there was no tampering whatsoever with voting machines." The agencies added in their report that even "high confidence in a judgment does not imply that the assessment is a fact or a certainty."

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You can read the full declassified report at IC on the Record.