A U.S. intelligence community report declassified Friday squarely blames Russian President Vladimir Putin for “influence campaign” aimed at hurting Hillary Clinton and helping President-elect Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. The report concludes that it was Putin himself who ordered the campaign, which consisted of hacking Democratic groups and individuals, including Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, and releasing that information via third-party websites.
After being brief on the report, president-elect Donald Trump reiterated that the hacking didn't impact the outcome of the election but made no reference to who was responsible for it. The Trump camp has indignantly denied that Trump is sheltering Russia. It's understandable that Trump doesn't want Democrats to use the hacks to deligitimize his presidency. But for those of us who were dismayed at how soft President Barack Obama was with Putin, Trump's unwillingess to say publicly Putin ordered the hacks is disconcerting at best and troubling at worst.
Trump's glowing rhetoric toward Putin has raised concerns for month that he sees the Russian strongman as a friend and Russia as an unequivocal ally. The effort to influence our elections, whether successful or not, shows that isn't the case.
Trump has done a number of things to assuage concerns of conservatives who didn't vote for him. His refusal to admit Russia tried to influence the election undermines that progress.
