Not going to comment on anonymous intel reports on Putin's involvement in hacking - Kerry
US Secretary of State John Kerry said he's not going to comment on "anonymous intelligence reports" that Russian President Vladimir Putin may be personally involved in alleged hacking into US election system.
Speaking to reporters at the State Department on Thursday, Kerry pointed to comments by President Barack Obama in October, when he warned that “Russian-directed” hackers were responsible for “threats and disclosures” intended to influence the election.
Anonymous CIA officials have told the New York Times and the Washington Post over the past week that Russian hackers interfered with the November 8 presidential election in the US to aid the Republican candidate Donald Trump. No evidence was provided for this claim, allegedly based on a secret CIA assessment.
A few days later, NBC News claimed – likewise based on anonymous sources within the CIA – that Putin himself blessed the endeavor.
Starting in June, a hacker calling himself Guccifer 2.0 published a series of documents from the Democratic National Committee (DNC), showing the party officials collusion with Hillary Clinton during the primaries, at the expense of all other candidates and in particular Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. DNC officials immediately blamed Russia for the data breach.
A month before the election, WikiLeaks began releasing 55,000 emails from the private account of John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chair. Among the unsorted daily data dumps were email exchanges about strategy and messaging between Clinton’s campaign staff. The campaign also blamed Russia for the revelations, while some pundits went so far as to accuse WikiLeaks and Julian Assange of being agents of Moscow.
President-elect Donald Trump has called the allegations “ridiculous” and “conspiracy theory.”
