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| Donald Trump, President-Elect |
US spy chiefs were set to confront a publicly dismissive President-elect Donald Trump Friday with their proof that Russia mounted an unusual bid to disrupt the US elections by hacking his Democratic rivals.
The meeting comes amid high tension between the leaders of the US intelligence service and their future boss, which has bridled at any suggestion that Moscow tipped the election in his favor.
"My hope is that once the president-elect receives his own briefings and is able to review the intelligence, as his team is to bring together and that they see how skilled and effective these agencies are, that some of those current tensions are reduced," President Barack Obama told Chicago's NBC affiliate on Thursday.
After Trump had initially raised doubts early last month, Obama ordered the intelligence service to provide a comprehensive report on cyber attacks and Russian interference in the election.
Obama was briefed on the report on Thursday, and the intelligence chiefs were expected to detail it to Trump on Friday.
James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, National Security Agency chief mike Rogers, Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey and Central intelligence service Director John Brennan were expected to take half in the briefing.
- 'High confidence' -
Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday he had "very high" confidence in their findings.
"The Russians have an extended history of meddling in elections, theirs and other people's," he said. "But we have never encountered such a direct campaign to interfere with the election method as we have seen during this case."
"This was a multifaceted campaign. So the hacking was only one part of it, and it additionally entailed classical propaganda, misinformation, and fake news."
Clapper, Rogers and Marcel Letter, secretary of defense for intelligence, said in a joint statement that "only Russia's senior-most officials" may have licensed the operation, during which hackers stole Democratic Party files and emails.
Those files were then disseminated via WikiLeaks, embarrassing the party and harming losing candidate Hillary Clinton's White House effort.
"Russia has clearly assumed an even more aggressive cyber posture by increasing cyber spying operations, leaking information taken from these operations and targeting important infrastructure systems," Clapper said.
- Trump's doubts -
Trump, who has pledged a reconciliation with President Vladimir Putin's Russia after taking office on Jan 20, has repeatedly dismissed the findings.
The Republican has mocked via Twitter past intelligence errors of the CIA, FBI and other agencies, challenging them to prove that the hacking and leaks can be derived up to the top of Putin's government.
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| Director of National Intelligence James Clapper (L) and National Security Agency Director Admiral Michael Rogers (C) testify before the Senate Armed Services |
Late Thursday, he once more asked "how and why are they thus positive about hacking," claiming that the DNC prevented the FBI from accessing their servers. BuzzFeed News reported that the FBI had in reality never asked to examine them.
US officials acquainted with the report told CNN that the liaisons who delivered the purloined emails from Russia to WikiLeaks had been identified.
And US intelligence agencies intercepted communications from senior Russian officials indicating they'd celebrated Trump's triumph as a win for Moscow, according to a report in the Washington Post
An unclassified version of the report conferred to the president -- stripped of sensitive details -- will be released to the general public early next week.
"I think the general public ought to grasp as much regarding this as possible," Clapper said.
Nevertheless, Thursday's much-anticipated hearing didn't provide any new proof to back the allegations.
When asked by senators to produce additional proof, Clapper repeatedly said he couldn't do so publically, saying it risked damaging the intelligence community's sources and operations.
"We have invested billions, and that we have place people's lives at a risk to garner such info," he said.
- Soured relations -
Friday's briefing for Trump can come back amid worries he has already poisoned relations with key components of the all-important national security institution.
Trump raised additional hackles on Wed by citing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to recommend that anyone, even a 14-year-old kid, may be behind the hacking.
Under sturdy criticism from politicians of each party for putting additional credibility in Assange than the Central Intelligence Agency and FBI, Trump defended himself Thursday.
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| How Russia Hacked the US Elections |
"The media lies to make it appear as if I’m against 'Intelligence' when in reality I’m an enormous fan!" Trump said on Twitter.
"The dishonest media likes saying that I’m in Agreement with Julian Assange - wrong. I merely state what he states, it's for the folks...to make up their own minds as to the truth."
Without naming Trump, Clapper said there was "a difference between healthy skepticism and disparagement" of the intelligence service.
"And I've received several expressions of concern from foreign counterparts regarding, you know, the disparagement of the North American country intelligence service," he said.
"Public trust and confidence in the intelligence service is very crucial," he said.
