Report: Trump was briefed on Russian involvement in DNC attacks before debate

Intelligence officials told Donald Trump they had “high confidence” that Russia was behind the hacks of several Democratic organizations, including the Democratic National Committee (DNC), before the Republican presidential nominee said during the first presidential debate of 2016 that no one knew Moscow was involved, reports Time. 

{mosads}After Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton said during the debate that Russia perpetrated the attacks, Trump said he was not certain. 

“She’s saying, ‘Russia, Russia, Russia,’ but I don’t know. Maybe it was. It could be Russia, but it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. It could also be someone sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds,” Trump said. 

It is widely believed in the intelligence community that Russia was behind the attacks. More than a year ago, officials briefed members of Congress that Russia was trying to attack Democratic groups. Later, officials warned the groups they were likely to be under attack, although they omitted crucial details to preserve active intelligence-gathering operations. 

Lawmakers from both sides of the isle agree that Russia is behind the attacks. House Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCaul (R-Texas) has asked the administration to declare that Russia is behind the attacks and punish Moscow. So has House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Many technical details, including the command and control servers used in the attacks and the companies renting servers used in social-engineering attacks, match those of a hacking group that government intelligence groups — including Germany’s — have long attributed to Russian intelligence. 

The administration, however, has not formally accused any nation of being behind the attacks. These kinds of declarations are notoriously difficult to make — most forms of digital evidence are easy to manufacture — and it is difficult for a government to refer to inside information without revealing intelligence gathered through covert methods or upsetting a delicate geopolitical balance. 

Still, a near uniformity of experts believes that Russia was behind the attacks. 

Multiple reports describe officials as more confident behind closed doors than in public. Security firms CrowdStrike, Fidelis and Mandiant were each independently confident enough that the evidence pointed to Russia to have made their own findings. Since then, the company ThreatConnect has uncovered new evidence pointing to Moscow.