Russian President Vladimir Putin personally ordered an intelligence operation against the U.S. presidential campaign and ultimately sought to help Donald Trump win the White House, according to a new U.S. intelligence report released Friday, shortly after the president-elect appeared to dismiss its key findings.

Putin both “aspired to help” Trump in November and to “harm” Trump’s rival, Democratic nominee and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with leaks of pilfered emails and other covert activities, the report concludes in a dramatic expansion of official U.S. accusations against the Kremlin.

…Russian intelligence “obtained and maintained access to elements of multiple US state or local electoral boards,” adding that Russian spies began collecting information on equipment used in U.S. elections in early 2014.

…The report, which Obama had requested, is a joint product of the CIA, the FBI and the National Security Agency.

…In addition to stealing and dumping embarrassing emails from the Democratic National Committee and Clinton’s campaign, Russian intelligence officials also used state-funded broadcasts and third-party intermediaries, and paid social media “trolls” to spread false information and disparage Clinton, the report says.

…When it appeared that Clinton was likely to win, according to the report, Moscow “focused more on undercutting [her] legitimacy”

…[Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman, Sen. Richard] Burr said Russia had conducted a “direct and aggressive covert influence campaign” during the election.

“This is a troubling chapter in an ongoing story,” he added.

U.S. intelligence report says Putin targeted presidential election to ‘harm’ Hillary Clinton’s chances – LA Times

hmmmm