WaPo | FBI Director James B. Comey and Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. are in agreement with a CIA assessment
that Russia intervened in the 2016 election in part to help Donald
Trump win the White House, officials disclosed Friday, as President
Obama issued a public warning to Moscow that it could face retaliation.
New
revelations about Comey’s position could put to rest suggestions by
some lawmakers that the CIA and the FBI weren’t on the same page on
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions.
Russia has denied
being behind the cyber-intrusions, which targeted the Democratic
National Committee and the private emails of Hillary Clinton’s campaign
chairman, John Podesta. Trump, in turn, has repeatedly said he doubts the veracity of U.S. intelligence blaming Moscow for the hacks.
“I
think it’s ridiculous,” Trump said in an interview with “Fox News
Sunday,” his first Sunday news-show appearance since the Nov. 8
election. “I think it’s just another excuse. I don’t believe it. . . .
No, I don’t believe it at all.”
At a “thank you” event Thursday
night with some of her top campaign donors and fundraisers, Clinton said
she believed Russian-backed hackers went after her campaign because of a
personal grudge that Putin had against her. Putin had blamed Clinton
for fomenting mass protests in Russia after disputed 2011 parliamentary
elections that challenged his rule. Putin said Clinton, then secretary
of state, had “sent a signal” to protesters by labeling the elections
“neither free nor fair.”
