U.S. spies reportedly caught top Russian officials patting themselves on the back after Trump's win


An unclassified version of the 50-page report on Russian hacking delivered to President Obama on Thursday is expected to be released to the public on Monday. Until then, unidentified intelligence officials are parceling out some highlights to the news media. The biggest piece of news is probably that U.S. intelligence agencies have reportedly identified the individuals who passed hacked Democratic emails from Russia to WikiLeaks, which then published them before the election. But U.S. officials also told The Washington Post, NBC News, and CNN that intercepted conversations showed Russian officials celebrating the election results and congratulating themselves on Donald Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton.
"The Russians felt pretty good about what happened on Nov. 8 and they also felt pretty good about what they did," a senior U.S. official tells The Washington Post. The signals intelligence on the Kremlin celebrating Trump's win was just one of several bits of data that convinced U.S. intelligence that Russia's eventual goal in the election hacking was to help elect Trump, not just disrupt the U.S. election, and there is no intercepted conversation that is a "smoking gun" on Russia's intentions, officials tell CNN.
Other tools Russia relied on included social media and "fake news" platforms, both used as an "accelerant" to help Trump and hurt Clinton, a second official tells The Washington Post, adding that the intercepted communiqués show that Russian officials "were as surprised as the rest of the world" that Trump actually won. A "senior U.S. intelligence official with direct knowledge" confirmed to NBC News that senior Russian officials were captured celebrating Trump's win, as The Post reported, but only because "the official felt that the details the paper chose focused too much on the Russian celebration and not enough on the thrust of the report." You can watch NBC's report on that broader thrust below. Peter Weber
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Depleted FEMA struggling as hurricane season begins
speed read FEMA has lost a third of its workforce amid DOGE cuts enforced by President Donald Trump
-
White House tackles fake citations in MAHA report
speed read A federal government public health report spearheaded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was rife with false citations
-
Judge blocks push to bar Harvard foreign students
speed read Judge Allison Burroughs sided with Harvard against the Trump administration's attempt to block the admittance of international students
-
Trump's trade war whipsawed by court rulings
Speed Read A series of court rulings over Trump's tariffs renders the future of US trade policy uncertain
-
Elon Musk departs Trump administration
speed read The former DOGE head says he is ending his government work to spend more time on his companies
-
Trump taps ex-personal lawyer for appeals court
speed read The president has nominated Emil Bove, his former criminal defense lawyer, to be a federal judge
-
US trade court nullifies Trump's biggest tariffs
speed read The US Court of International Trade says Trump exceeded his authority in imposing global tariffs
-
Trump pauses all new foreign student visas
speed read The State Department has stopped scheduling interviews with those seeking student visas in preparation for scrutiny of applicants' social media