The Obama administration is under pressure from members of the Democratic Party to state in clearer terms that Russia’s ultimate goal in interfering with the US election was to help Donald Trump become president. According to new information, the intelligence community is becoming more and more sure that this is the case, but unable to say so due to the classified nature of the evidence.
The request arrived on President Obama’s desk in the form of a letter signed by all Democratic members of the Senate Intelligence Committee requesting that more information be declassified so that the public could get a better picture of what happened. The letter was not signed by ranking committee member, Diane Feinstein, who was part a second classified message containing more sensitive information.
Though, the intelligence community has never explicitly said what Russia’s intentions were, the general consensus is that this new information doesn’t change their assessment. Going back to the Cold War, Russia has always actively engaged in this sort of hybrid warfare. In a hearing last month, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper did not go so far as to discuss Russia’s motives during the election, but did say that there was no reason to believe they would stop now that Trump has been elected President.