U.S. probing Russia’s attempts to influence 2016 election: Report
US Intelligence and law enforcement officials are looking into how and to what extent Russia is attempting to influence the United States presidential election .
A report in The Washington Post said the new probe is underway and James Clapper, director of national intelligence, spearheading it.
“This is something of concern for (us),” Charles Allen, a former longtime CIA officer, told the Post. “It is being addressed.”
The investigation follows Russia’s alleged attempts at high-profile hacks into party committee servers and state election systems.
In July, WikiLeaks released emails from the Democratic National Committee (DNC), leading to the ouster of chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and several other top DNC aides.
Meanwhile, CBS News confirmed that hackers had accessed state election databases in Arizona and Illinois states. American officials believed those intrusions were the work of foreign hackers, but did not name a specific country they thought was responsible.
Moscow has denied any involvement in the hacks, with Russian President Vladimir Putin saying last week that the country was not responsible.
Still, he added that it was a net positive that the DNC documents were released: “The important thing is the content that was given to the public,” he said, according to the report.
