
Russian President Vladimir Putin supervised his intelligence agencies? hacking of the US presidential election and turned it from a general attempt to discredit American democracy to an effort to help Donald Trump, three US officials said on Thursday.
US intelligence agencies? conclusion that Russia tried to influence the election by hacking people and institutions, including Democratic Party bodies, has angered President-elect Trump, who says he won the November. 8 vote fairly. Russian officials have denied accusations of interference in the election.
Separately, a senior White House official said on Thursday that Putin was likely to have been aware of the cyber attacks but he fell short of accusing the Russian president.
?If anything, given his background as a KGB officer, Putin has a much tighter grip on all Russian intelligence operations, civilian and military, foreign and domestic, than any democratic leader does,? one official said.


) 
Comment