The latest twist comes from a bombshell report published early Tuesday evening by CNN, with four bylines, including Watergate legend Carl Bernstein.
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Conaway added that he has no doubt, based on the intelligence he has received, that Russian Federation was behind the hacking efforts and that it was done either to hurt Hillary Clinton or help Trump in the election. CNN reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is still investigating the claims of the dossier, which was compiled by a former MI6 agent who runs his own intelligence gathering company.
That information had been known since late past year among some journalists and politicians in Washington, the media reports suggested.
In November, it was reported that a Russian diplomat confirmed that Kremlin was in contact with the Trump campaign.
The addendum to the intelligence briefing also alleged that information flowed between members of Trump’s presidential campaign and Russian intermediaries throughout the 2016 election race.
CNN gave no details of what the so-called compromising information is, but said knowledge of its existence in Russian hands originally came from a former British MI-6 intelligence operative hired by other United States presidential contenders to do political “opposition research” on Trump in the middle of previous year. One of the officials, both of whom requested anonymity to discuss classified matters, said the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other US agencies are continuing to investigate the credibility and accuracy of the claims.
He said a report released by U.S. intelligence agencies detailing the allegations was groundless.
Fred Weir, a journalist and political commentator from Moscow, said President Barack Obama along with his administration is trying to get in the way of Donald Trump’s desire to amend ties with Russian Federation.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova made a comment on the intelligence report on her official Facebook page.
He also denied the email leaks influenced the result of the election, in spite of being a thorn in Clinton’s side during the campaign.
Asked at a Senate hearing on Tuesday about the allegations of sustained contacts between Russian Federation and the Trump team, Mr Comey refused to confirm or deny that his agency was investigating such links.
But there has been nothing said publicly by the USA intelligence community to support these claims.
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The goal of including the material was to back up their conclusion that Russian Federation had acted to hurt Hillary Clinton’s campaign, gathering information on both sides in the election but only publicly releasing information damaging the Democrats, according to CNN, which first reported on the briefing.
