Washington Post – Secret CIA assessment says Russia was trying to help Trump win White House “The CIA has concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency, rather than just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system, according to officials briefed on the matter. Intelligence agencies have identified individuals with connections to the Russian government who provided WikiLeaks with thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and others, including Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, according to U.S. officials. Those officials described the individuals as actors known to the intelligence community and part of a wider Russian operation to boost Trump and hurt Clinton’s chances. “It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russia’s goal here was to favor one candidate over the other, to help Trump get elected,” said a senior U.S. official briefed on an intelligence presentation made to U.S. senators. “That’s the consensus view…”

• New York Times Editorial – Russia’s Hand in America’s Election – “Why would President-elect Trump object to a thorough, bipartisan probe into Russian meddling?”
• New York Times – Russian Hackers Acted to Aid Trump in Election, U.S. Says -“…the Russians hacked the Republican National Committee’s computer systems in addition to their attacks on Democratic organizations, but did not release whatever information they gleaned from the Republican networks. In the months before the election, it was largely documents from Democratic Party systems that were leaked to the public. Intelligence agencies have concluded that the Russians gave the Democrats’ documents to WikiLeaks…”
• The Guardian – “Legislators overseeing the CIA and other intelligence agencies have told the Guardian they will be vigilant about reprisals from Donald Trump over an internal assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to ensure Trump’s victory. Donald Trump says CIA charge Russia influenced election is ‘ridiculous’ – Fears of retaliation rose within US intelligence agencies over a tense weekend that saw Trump publicly dismiss not only the assessment but the basic competence of the intelligence apparatus. “When the president-elect’s transition team is attempting to discredit the entire intelligence community [IC], it has never been more important for the IC and Congress to guard against possible political pressure or retaliation against intelligence analysts,” Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, told the Guardian…”
• NBC News – CIA Concludes Russia Mounted Operation to Help Trump Win: Source – “The CIA has concluded that Russia mounted a covert intelligence operation to influence the U.S. election in an effort to help Donald Trump win, a congressional official knowledgeable on the matter told NBC News. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper briefed senators on the latest intelligence in a closed-door meeting last week, and he described the latest findings on the intentions of the Russian government with regard to the hacks and other interference in the U.S. presidential election, according to the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the intelligence…”
• CNN – Obama orders review of Russian election-related hacking
• CNN – Bipartisan group of senators calls for probe of Russian role in 2016 US elections
• Politico – Trump vs. Congress on Russian hacking The president-elect calls intelligence reports of election meddling ‘ridiculous.’ But prominent senators from both parties disagree.
• Also via Politico – Intel world struggles to crack the code of an untrusting Trump – How do you brief a president who refuses to believe what you tell him?
• New York Times – Trump on Reports of Interference: ‘I Don’t Believe It’
  • “President-elect Donald J. Trump, in an interview with Fox News, cast blame for the intelligence assessments of Russia’s meddling on Democrats, who he said were embarrassed about losing.
  • He also indicated that his vice president, Mike Pence, would receive his daily intelligence briefings, seemingly dismissing the importance of interacting with the agencies.”