Russian President Vladimir Putin personally ordered a hacking and disinformation campaign to influence the U.S. presidential campaign and developed “a clear preference” for Donald Trump to win, U.S. intelligence agencies said in a declassified report on their findings. The agencies said they “assess Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him,” according to the report released Friday. “All three agencies agree with this judgment. CIA and FBI have high confidence in this judgment; NSA has moderate confidence.” The report was issued shortly after Trump met in New York with top intelligence officials for a briefing on their findings that Russia was responsible for the hacking of Democratic Party computers and the leaking of e-mails damaging to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Trump has long questioned the conclusion that Russia wa...
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