BREAKING: Official Intelligence Report Says Putin Ordered Interference in U.S. Election

The US intelligence community concluded in a declassified report released Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an “influence campaign” aimed at hurting Hillary Clinton and helping Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

The campaign — which consisted of hacking Democratic groups and individuals, including Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, and releasing that information via third-party websites, including WikiLeaks — amounted to what the intelligence report called “a significant escalation” in longtime Russian efforts to undermine “the US-led liberal democratic order.”

The report was the first official, full and public accounting by the US intelligence community of its assessment of Russian cyberhacking activities during the 2016 campaign and the motivations behind that hacking.

“We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump,” the report said.

For everyone out there who doesn’t believe that the moon landing was a fake, this is pretty stunning news. The report from the Director of National Intelligence outlines many of the alleged tactics used by Russia to influence the U.S election with the absolute goal of trying to help Donald Trump win the Presidency.

We say again: Whoa!

So, now what? Either our elected officials accuse the Director of National Intelligence of lying, or they take action somehow. This isn’t a conspiracy theory.

There are many different questions here, but it is important to separate two of them: 1) Did Russia actively interfere in the U.S. election process? — and 2) Does this delegitimize Donald Trump as President? The answer to the first question must be considered on its own.