CIA's Pompeo asserts Russian meddling did not sway U.S. election

20/10/2017 12:35

        CIA Director Mike Pompeo on
        Thursday said, apparently inaccurately, that U.S. intelligence
        agencies had concluded that Russian interference did not affect
        the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
        
        In fact, U.S. intelligence agencies in January said that
        they had made no assessment one way or the other on the impact
        of Moscow's hacking and propaganda campaign but its report
        stated that Russia's aim was to try and help then-Republican
        candidate Donald Trump's election chances.
        
        Pompeo, a former Republican congressman and Trump ally, was
        asked at an event in Washington if he could say with absolute
        certainty that the election results were not skewed as a result
        of Russian interference. Pompeo replied: "Yes. Intelligence
        community's assessment is that the Russian meddling that took
        place did not affect the outcome of the election."
        
        The top Democrat on the U.S. House of Representatives
        Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, criticized Pompeo for his
        remark.
        
        "I was deeply disappointed to learn that CIA Director Pompeo
        today asserted that the intelligence community had found that
        Russian interference in our election did not affect the outcome.
        In fact, the Intelligence community made no such finding, nor
        could it," Schiff said in a statement that noted the January
        assessment.
        
        "This is not the first time the Director has made statements
        minimizing the significance of what the Russians did, but it
        needs to be the last," Schiff said.
        
        The agency later issued a statement that appeared to walk
        back Pompeo's remark.
        
        "The intelligence assessment with regard to Russian election
        meddling has not changed, and the Director did not intend to
        suggest that it had," said Dean Boyd, the director of the CIA's
        office of public affairs.
        
        Russia has repeatedly denied U.S. intelligence agencies'
        conclusions that Moscow meddled in the election and Trump has
        denied any collusion between his campaign and Russian officials.
        
        Committees in both the U.S. Senate and the House are
        investigating as is a special counsel, former FBI director
        Robert Mueller. The probes have cast a shadow over Trump's
        presidency, especially after Federal Bureau of Investigation
        Director James Comey was fired by Trump in May.
        
        In an interview with NBC after Comey's removal, Trump
        admitted that he was thinking about "this Russia thing" when he
        decided to fire Comey.