American intelligence reportedly discovered that Russia was confident it "had the ability to influence the [Trump] administration through ... derogatory information," people familiar with the intelligence told CNN. The Russian conversations, intercepted during the 2016 campaign, reportedly referred to incriminating financial information that could have been used to sway Trump or his close inner circle, CNN adds.
But the sources, privy to the descriptions of the communications written by U.S. intelligence, cautioned the Russian claims to one another "could have been exaggerated or even made up" as part of a disinformation campaign that the Russians did during the election.The details of the communication shed new light on information U.S. intelligence received about Russian claims of influence. The contents of the conversations made clear to U.S. officials that Russia was considering ways to influence the election — even if their claims turned out to be false. [CNN]
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