Obama admin backs Hillary’s claim Russia did it

As far back as the 2016 party conventions in July, Hillary Clinton was blaming the Russians for hacking and releasing embarrassing emails.

Now the Obama administration, through an executive agency, has decided to back up her claim.

Russia Today noted recently that emails and documents of the DNC were first released by Guccifer 2.0 in June, “but the DNC did not react until WikiLeaks released more files – which Guccifer 2.0 said he supplied to them – on the eve of the Democratic convention in Philadelphia.”

“Within hours, the Clinton campaign was accusing Russia and President Vladimir Putin personally of being behind the leaks, without disputing any of the document’s authenticity or content.”

Now the Obama administration, through the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Director of National Intelligence, is backing her claim.

In a statement that appeared just days ago, the agency said, “The U.S. Intelligence Community is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of emails from U.S. persons and institutions, including from U.S. political organizations.”

ODNI said the recent “disclosures of alleged hacked emails on sites like DCLeaks.com and WikiLeaks and by the Guccifer 2.0 online persona are consistent with the methods and motiviations of Russian-directed efforts.”

“These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the U.S. election process. Such activity is not new to Moscow – the Russians have used similar tactics and techniques across Europe and Eurasia, for example, to influence public opinion there. We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities.”

If voters choose wrongly this November, America faces a “Looming Disaster.” That’s the title – and message – of the powerful new e-book about the upcoming U.S. presidential election by top Soviet-bloc defector Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa, author of the acclaimed book “Disinformation.” WND, which published “Disinformation,” has arranged with Pacepa and co-author Prof. Ronald Rychlak to provide a FREE download of “Looming Disaster” to every WND reader requesting one.

See? See? said Clinton’s campaign.

Campaign manager John Podesta, whose emails were hacked and are being released this week by the thousands, immediately responded.

“The world now knows, beyond the shadow of any doubt, that the hack of the Democratic National Committee was carried out by the Russian government in a clear aqttempt to interfere with the integrity of our elections,” he said.

No one, however, cited a motivation for Russia to influence the election for Donald Trump.

“The only remaining question is why Donald Trump continues to make apologies for the Russians. Trump’s initial reaction to the hack in July was to invite further intrusions by the Russians. Even after he was reportedly briefed on the very findings that were just announced publicly by U.S. government officials, he stood on a debate stage one week ago and played dumb about Russia’s role in his hack,” Podesta said.

The ODNI actually provided only opinion, not evidence.

“Some states have also recently seen scanning and probing of their election-related systems, which in most cases originated from servers operated by a Russian company. However, we are not now in a position to attribute this activity to the Russian Government. The USIC and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) assess that it would be extremely difficult for someone, including a nation-state actor, to alter actual ballot counts or election results by cyber attack or intrusion. This assessment is based on the decentralized nature of our election system in this country and the number of protections state and local election officials have in place. States ensure that voting machines are not connected to the Internet, and there are numerous checks and balances as well as extensive oversight at multiple levels built into our election process.”

That didn’t stop Podesta from leaping forward to the assumption, “It should concern every American that Russia is willing to engage in such hostile acts in order to help Donald Trump become president of the United States.”

What does Putin himself say?

NBC reports he insisted Russia has had nothing to do with the hacks.

The Russian leader charged the “hysteria” appears to have been created simply to “distract the American people from contents of what the hackers have posted.”

The ODNI statement was the first charge of responsibility from the U.S. government in the email hacks, which have already hit the DNC, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Podesta and others.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also, according to USNews.com, rejected the claim Russia was interfering in the U.S. election.

If voters choose wrongly this November, America faces a “Looming Disaster.” That’s the title – and message – of the powerful new e-book about the upcoming U.S. presidential election by top Soviet-bloc defector Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa, author of the acclaimed book, “Disinformation.” WND, which published “Disinformation,” has arranged with Pacepa and co-author Prof. Ronald Rychlak to provide a FREE download of “Looming Disaster” to every WND reader requesting one.

Bob Unruh

Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after nearly three decades with the Associated Press, as well as several Upper Midwest newspapers, where he covered everything from legislative battles and sports to tornadoes and homicidal survivalists. He is also a photographer whose scenic work has been used commercially. Read more of Bob Unruh's articles here.