ILLUMINATED

Report Identifies Russians Who Leaked Emails

CIA report names names.

U.S. intelligence agencies have identified which Russian officials provided hacked Democratic National Committee emails to WikiLeaks, according to a new Reuters report. Senior U.S. officials told reporters the CIA has determined who gave the documents to Julian Assange’s organization at the request of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Those parties, however, have not been publicly named. The Russian government escalated an initial plan to discredit the U.S. election process into a full-fledged attempt to aid President-elect Donald Trump's campaign in his race against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, the report claims. One official who is familiar with the report told Reuters, “By October, it had become clear that the Russians were trying to help the Trump campaign.” President Obama was informed Thursday of that intelligence assessment; it will be presented to Trump on Friday morning. So far, Trump has rejected many of the intelligence community’s assessments on Russia’s role in the cyberattacks. Russia has also denied the allegations.