Senior U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News Wednesday they have a "high level of confidence" that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally directed how material hacked from Democrats was leaked and otherwise used before the election.
The intelligence came from spies working for U.S. allies and diplomatic sources, the officials said. In 2011, Hillary Clinton cast doubts on the integrity of Russia's parliamentary elections, and Putin had a "vendetta" against her, a high-level intelligence official told NBC News. The effort then morphed into an attempt to highlight corruption in American politics and "split off key American allies by creating the image that [other countries] couldn't depend on the U.S. to be a credible global leader anymore." The CIA has since assessed the Russian government wanted Donald Trump to get elected. Read the entire report at NBC News.