Putin Ordered ‘Influence Campaign’ Aimed at U.S. Election, Report Says

American intelligence officials have concluded that Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, “ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election,” and turned from seeking to “denigrate” Hillary Clinton to developing “a clear preference for President-elect Trump.” The conclusions were part of a declassified intelligence report, ordered by President Barack Obama, that was released Jan 6.

Its main conclusions were described to Donald J. Trump by intelligence officials earlier in the day, and he responded by acknowledging that Russia sought to hack into the Democratic National Committee, but said nothing about the conclusion that Putin had sought to aid his candidacy, other than that it had no effect on the outcome. The report, a damning and surprisingly detailed account of Russia’s efforts to undermine the American electoral system and Hillary Clinton in particular, went on to assess that Putin “aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him.”