Secret CIA assessment says Russia was trying to help Trump win White House

[johen]

The CIA has concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency, rather than just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system, according to officials briefed on the matter.

Intelligence agencies have identified individuals with connections to the Russian government who provided WikiLeaks with thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and others, including Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, according to U.S. officials. Those officials described the individuals as actors known to the intelligence community and part of a wider Russian operation to boost Trump and hurt Clinton’s chances.

“It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russia’s goal here was to favor one candidate over the other, to help Trump get elected,” said a senior U.S. official briefed on an intelligence presentation made to U.S. senators. “That’s the consensus view.”

How the Russian hackers got into the DNC's network Play Video2:37
The Post's Ellen Nakashima goes over the events, and discusses the two hacker groups responsible. (Jhaan Elker/The Washington Post)
The Obama administration has been debating for months how to respond to the alleged Russian intrusions, with White House officials concerned about escalating tensions with Moscow and being accused of trying to boost Clinton’s campaign.

[U.S. government officially accuses Russia of hacking campaign to interfere with elections]

In September, during a secret briefing for congressional leaders, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) voiced doubts about the veracity of the intelligence, according to officials present.

The Trump transition team dismissed the findings in a short statement issued Friday evening. “These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It’s now time to move on and ‘Make America Great Again,’ ” the statement read.

Trump has consistently dismissed the intelligence community’s findings about Russian hacking.

“I don’t believe they interfered” in the election, he told Time magazine this week. The hacking, he said, “could be Russia. And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey.”

The CIA shared its latest assessment with key senators in a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill last week, in which agency officials cited a growing body of intelligence from multiple sources. Agency briefers told the senators it was now “quite clear” that electing Trump was Russia’s goal, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...06c_story.html

[johen]

LONDON — International sports’ antidoping watchdog on Friday laid out mountainous evidence that for years Russian officials orchestrated a doping program at the Olympics and other competitions that involved or benefited 1,000 athletes in 30 sports. The findings intensified pressure on the International Olympic Committee to reassess Russia’s medals from the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and penalize the nation ahead of the 2018 Winter Games.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/09/sp...port.html?_r=0

[KMack]

Absent from the wapo article is any mention of a legit CIA investigation. why would they investigate a private political party "hack"? DNC is not a government agency.
FBI might do an investigation. CIA is not charged with investigating this. I think it was a leak, not a hack.

[Colonel Frank Grimes]

Absent from the wapo article is any mention of a legit CIA investigation. why would they investigate a private political party "hack"? DNC is not a government agency.
FBI might do an investigation. CIA is not charged with investigating this. I think it was a leak, not a hack.

That fellow working for the DNC who was murdered during a 'mugging' (but oddly enough his money wasn't taken). Assange keeps implying he was their guy. He also says the Russians didn't provide him with the e-mails. I'll take his word over that of the CIA.

This strikes me as a 'fuck you' to Trump by the CIA for recent snubs.

[KMack]

That fellow working for the DNC who was murdered during a 'mugging' (but oddly enough his money wasn't taken). Assange keeps implying he was their guy. He also says the Russians didn't provide him with the e-mails. I'll take his word over that of the CIA.

This strikes me as a 'fuck you' to Trump by the CIA for recent snubs.

Agreed and WaPo is staffed by 98% anti trump people. Jeff Bezos owns it now. It isn't the WaPo of years ago. The DNC guy who was murdered was Seth Rich the "Data" Director for the DNC.

[Jehan]

These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

[johen]

Under this complicate circumstance, Trump tries to nominate Exxon CEO to be a secretary of state, who has ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

WSJ

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate Exxon Mobil Corp. Chief Executive Rex Tillerson to be secretary of state, a transition official said Saturday, a selection that would reach outside the traditional foreign policy establishment to elevate a global business deal-maker.

Mr. Trump hasn't yet made a final decision, the official said, but the president-elect heaped praise on Mr. Tillerson in an interview released Saturday.

“He’s more than a business executive; he’s a world-class player,’’ Mr. Trump told Fox News in the interview, to be broadcast Sunday. “He’s in charge of I guess the largest company in the world.”

Mr. Trump called it “a great advantage” that Mr. Tillerson already knows “many of the players,” noting that he does “massive deals in Russia.”


Those deals would be certain to come under scrutiny in confirmation hearings before the Senate. A number of Republicans have urged Mr. Trump to be wary of Russia, warning that it is trying to expand its influence in ways that run counter to U.S. interests in places such as Ukraine and Syria.

The nomination would also put Mr. Trump’s intentions toward Russia in the spotlight just as controversy is intensifying over reports that the Central Intelligence Agency has concluded that a Russian-led hacking effort of U.S. email accounts was intended to boost Mr. Trump’s election chances.


Mr. Tillerson, 64 years old, met privately with Mr. Trump on Saturday, four days after their first meeting.

Among those considered for the post, Mr. Tillerson has perhaps the closest ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, having negotiated a 2011 energy partnership deal with Russia that Mr. Putin said could eventually be worth as much as $500 billion. In 2012, the Kremlin bestowed the country’s Order of Friendship decoration on Mr. Tillerson.

This pre-existing relationship with Mr. Putin complements Mr. Trump’s push to improve U.S.-Russia ties.

Since Mr. Trump began vetting candidates for secretary of state, Mr. Tillerson’s stock has climbed steadily. He moved ahead of better-known hopefuls with established political credentials—including 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney —who had multiple conversations with Mr. Trump about the job. Mr. Tillerson is viewed by some of Mr. Trump’s advisers as a mold-breaking pick who would bring an executive’s experience to the diplomatic role, said a person involved in the process.

Tapping Mr. Tillerson for the job would be a “Trumpian” move, the transition official said.

Mr. Trump is expected to make a formal announcement about his State Department pick in the coming days.

An Exxon spokesman declined to comment.

Mr. Trump said in a statement on Friday that former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani had taken himself out of the running for the diplomatic job and other administration posts late last month.

With Mr. Trump’s decision not yet final, other candidates who remain in the running, apart from Mr. Romney, are former Central Intelligence Agency director David Petraeus, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, and U.S. Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), people familiar with the matter said.

If Mr. Trump selects Mr. Tillerson, it would add a seasoned business executive to a team that already includes three retired generals. As Exxon’s CEO since 2006, Mr. Tillerson could leverage existing relationships with numerous world leaders.

[Sarmatian]

Neocons are sore losers, aren't they? They are so delusional they don't even understand why have they lost the election. They still think they can make up some scary propaganda story and it will change everything.

Well, not anymore. Because people do not believe CIA, do not believe in 'consensus of intelligence agencies', do not believe secret assessments being openly published in media, just do not believe mainstream media.

All they achieve is confusion and division in the nation. Then they wondering 'oh my, how did that happened?' and blame others for that. Or maybe they do it intentionally since globalists decided they don't need that nation anymore?

[Methmatician]

lol. A taste of their own medicine. But still unfortunate.

[Hexachordia]

Julian Assange is huge fat clown, I do not believe whatever he says and will never do. How could he arrange a refuge to Ecuador if he was not helped by government liasions. He is a professional lobbyist of some kind, don`t try to fool people in the age of information. His mentor Karl Marx fooled illiterate russians and chinese 100 years ago, now it is time to defeat all this kind of pierrotic terrorism, it is not funny and interesting. If anyone think that communism is rebellion against heaven and I would rather believe in the meaninglessness of physical existence.