iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — In his most stark comments on the matter to date, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper squarely blamed the cyber-hacks of the 2016 presidential election on the Russian government.
During a hearing of the Senate Committee on Intelligence, Clapper outlined key findings of a classified intelligence report on Russian election hacking that concluded Russian President Vladimir Putin “ordered” a campaign to influence the U.S. presidential election in an attempt by Russia to “undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process.”
“We have high confidence that President Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election,” Clapper said. “The goals of this campaign were to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, denigrate Secretary [Hillary] Clinton and harm her electability and potential presidency. Putin and the Russian government also developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump.”
“Moscow’s influence campaign blended covert intelligence operations with overt efforts by Russian government agencies, state-funded media, third-party intermediaries and paid social media users,” Clapper said. “We are highly confident that the Russian intelligence services conducted cyber-operations against people and organizations associated with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, including both major U.S. political parties.”
Clapper testified alongside other leaders of the intelligence community, including CIA Director John Brennan, and National Security Agency and Cyber Command chief Adm. Mike Rogers and FBI Director Jim Comey, all of whose agencies contributed to the report.
The report was produced after President-elect Donald Trump for months publicly expressed doubt about similar conclusions by the intelligence community about Russia’s role in hacking the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 president campaign.
Trump’s incoming chief of staff, Reince Priebus, said this weekend that following a formal briefing by intelligence leaders, Trump had accepted the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia engaged in cyber-attacks during the U.S. presidential election.
After his briefing, Trump was also critical of the DNC for not properly defending itself against cyber-threats.
Comey testified Tuesday that the FBI tried to access the computer servers of the DNC once it learned they had been compromised, but was denied and only granted that access from a third-party security firm. Comey said the FBI would have preferred to have access to the original devices.
Tuesday’s hearing was also Comey’s first opportunity to offer public comments on his announcement days before the presidential election that he was reopening the investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state.
The outcome of the investigation did not change previous conclusions, and Clinton was never charged with a crime, but Democrats were deeply angered by Comey’s decision and Clinton herself later blamed him in part for her loss to Donald Trump.
Tuesday’s hearing also offers an opportunity for Democrats to question Comey about his decision to reopen that controversial investigation at such a critical point.
He has not been asked to address the issues specifically so far, but told lawmakers at one point on a separate matter that it should be known to them that “I am tone-deaf when it comes to politics.”
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