According to the Washington Post, a secret CIA assessment found Russia made efforts to sway the the 2016 presidential election in Donald Trump’s favor.
In a “closed-door briefing” detailed by the Post, agency officials told senators Russia aimed to put Trump in the White House. According to the agency, individuals with connection to Russia provided Wikileaks with thousands of hacked Democratic National Committee emails that likely caused Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers to dip in the weeks leading up to Election Day.
One senior unnamed U.S. official who the Post said that the the intelligence leaks were part of a deliberate attempt to hurt Clinton in the polls.
“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,” the official said. “That’s the consensus view.”
According to several officials, McConnell raised doubts about the underlying intelligence and made clear to the administration that he would consider any effort by the White House to challenge the Russians publicly an act of partisan politics.
Some of the Republicans in the briefing also seemed opposed to the idea of going public with such explosive allegations in the final stages of an election, a move that they argued would only rattle public confidence and play into Moscow’s hands.
McConnell’s office did not respond to a request for comment. After the election, Trump chose McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, as his nominee for transportation secretary.
BREAKING: According to secret CIA assessment, Russia interfered with the election for Trump
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