Russian President Vladimir Putin was behind a hacking operation that exposed the Democratic National Committee and other targets during the U.S. presidential election, according to sources speaking with NBC News. The two U.S. officials told NBC that Putin had a "vendetta" against Hillary Clinton and had a goal of exposing corruption in U.S. politics. They have "high confidence" in the intelligence they received.
Putin's objectives were multifaceted, a high-level intelligence source told NBC News. What began as a "vendetta" against Hillary Clinton morphed into an effort to show corruption in American politics and to "split off key American allies by creating the image that [other countries] couldn't depend on the U.S. to be a credible global leader anymore," the official said.
If true, Democrats and liberal pundits have more ammunition to try and prove that Russia helped swing the election for Donald Trump.
President Obama got the ball rolling when he demanded a full review of the hack last Friday. Yet, the agencies looking into the matter are not on the same page. Multiple congressional committees are also planning on launching investigations into the hacking claims.
