Obama receives classified report on Russian hacking

President Obama received a classified report Thursday on Russian meddling in U.S. elections, according to the White House.

“The White House does have the report and President Obama is being briefed on it by a range of senior officials that are members of his national security team,” press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters.

The briefing comes roughly one month after Obama asked intelligence agencies to conduct a full review of Russian hacking before he leaves office.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told members of Congress Thursday that an unclassified version of the report will be released to the public “early next week.”

Earnest did not say how many of the findings would be released, but said officials would make “as much of it public as they possibly can.”

“It’s important for the American people to understand that it’s our democracy that has been interfered with,” he said.

{mosads}The report is expected to fuel the ongoing debate over the degree to which the Russian government disrupted the 2016 election.

The CIA accuses the Kremlin of interfering in the election in an attempt to aid Donald Trump.

But the president-elect and his allies have disputed that conclusion, and Trump has repeatedly questioned the abilities of the intelligence agencies he will soon lead.

Trump is scheduled to receive his own briefing on the report Friday. Members of Congress will get a classified briefing on Monday before the report is released.

The president-elect’s skepticism toward the intelligence community has irked the Obama administration as well as influential Republican lawmakers, who have a more hawkish approach toward Russian President Vladimir Putin.

 

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