State Department ‘100 percent certain’ about Russian hacking

A State Department spokesman says the Obama administration has no doubt Russia tried to influence the 2016 election through hacking.

“President Obama and this administration is 100 percent certain in the role that Russia played in trying to sow discord and confusion and getting involved, through the cyber domain, in our electoral process,” spokesman John Kirby told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour Tuesday. “There’s no question about that.”

“The information is there, and it’s rock solid. We obviously would not have pursued the measures that we pursued without that level of certainty. So, yes, we are 100 percent certain.”

{mosads}Kirby said President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry came to the conclusion that Russia meddled in the 2016 race after an exhaustive analysis by U.S. national intelligence agencies.

“And that’s not just an assessment by the president, or Secretary Kerry or Cabinet officials,” he added. “It’s an assessment by the entire intelligence community.”

The Obama administration announced new sanctions against Russia last week as retaliation for meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign. The White House also expelled 35 Russian officials and shuttered two compounds suspected of being used by Russian intelligence.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied his nation helped President-elect Donald Trump defeat Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Trump has fiercely denied that Moscow aided his White House win and criticized the intelligence community. He suggested Saturday that he “knows things that other people don’t know” about Russian hacking accusations.

“I just want them to be sure, because it’s a pretty serious charge, and I want them to be sure,” he told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla. “I think it’s unfair if they don’t know.”