US intelligence makes shock claim against Vladmir Putin

It’s been two months since the US election and yes, we’re still talking about it.

You might have read a lot about claims that Russia hacked the US election, and formed your own opinion about what happened.

Well, now US intelligence officials say know what happened for sure and they’re pointing the finger directly at Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The CIA, FBI and NSA have released a report today, claiming Russia’s president ordered a campaign to influence the election in Donald Trump’s favour.

“Moscow’s influence campaign followed a Russian messaging strategy that blends covert intelligence operations — such as cyber activity — with overt efforts by Russian Government agencies, state-funded media, third-party intermediaries, and paid social media users or ‘trolls’,” the report reveals.

“Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump.

“Moscow’s approach evolved over the course of the campaign based on Russia’s understanding of the electoral prospects of the two main candidates. When it appeared to Moscow that Secretary Clinton was likely to win the election, the Russian influence campaign began to focus more on undermining her future presidency.”

But, as the report states, there was no suggestion Russia was involved in compromising or targeting the vote tallying.

“We did not make an assessment of the impact that Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election,” the report states.

And it’s made a prediction for the future of cyber attacks by Russia.

“We assess Moscow will apply lessons learned from its Putin-ordered campaign aimed at the US presidential election to future influence efforts worldwide, including against US allies and their election processes,” the report states.

You might be wondering how Donald Trump has responded to the situation?

Well, he has acknowledged that other countries were involved in hacking US networks, he doesn’t believe it resulted in him becoming president.

“There was absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election,” he said in a statement.

So there you have it, the election saga continues.

What do you think about this? Do you believe the US intelligence reports about Russia and the US election?