WASHINGTON: The US intelligence community told President-elect Donald Trump to his face, and subsequently disclosed to the American public , that Russian President Vladimir Putin directed a persistent cyber attack aimed at denying Hillary Clinton the presidency and engineered his (Trump’s) election to the White House.The extraordinary and unanimous intelligence conclusion, which undermines the Trump presidency even before he has been sworn in , was delivered to him at a two-hour briefing at Trump Tower in New York on Friday. Shortly thereafter, a declassified version of the report was released to the public, some 60 million of who voted for Trump as President.The report was blunt and uninhibited, almost to the point of telling Trump he is a tainted "Siberian candidate" redolent of the infamous Manchurian candidate."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," it said.Trump, who has repeatedly praised Putin , trashed the American intelligence community, and expressed skepticism about their work and conclusions, issued a statement saying he had a ''constructive meeting and conversation with the leaders of the Intelligence Community," and while he has "tremendous respect" for their work and service, "there was absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election including the fact that there was no tampering whatsoever with voting machines."But he also promised some action to combat cyber attacks in a nod at the broader threat. "Whether it is our government, organizations, associations or businesses we need to aggressively combat and stop cyberattacks. I will appoint a team to give me a plan within 90 days of taking office. The methods, tools and tactics we use to keep America safe should not be a public discussion that will benefit those who seek to do us harm," he said.But in an assertion that he will not be derailed by the intelligence report, he maintained, "Two weeks from today I will take the oath of office and America’s safety and security will be my number one priority."The jousting between the incoming President and the intelligence community, which does not itself have an unblemished or unsullied reputation given its record of interference in democratic processes worldwide, is unprecedented in American history.Already, there are signs of fissures at the top level of the incoming administration, with former CIA Director James Woolsey disassociating himself from the Trump transition team (where he was a senior advisor) amid a pledges by Trump’s National Security nominee MajGen Michael Flynn that he would revamp the spy agency.Among the more striking aspects of the Intel report was the unanimity in America’s spookdom about Russian interference and the fact that was directed from the very top viz., at the instance of President Putin, who has a mutually antagonistic relationship with Hillary Clinton.''We also assess Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him. All three agencies agree with this judgment. CIA and FBI have high confidence in this judgment; NSA has moderate confidence,'' the report said.The report also endorsed the wide-spread analysis, polls, and reportage that indicated Clinton was on track to win comfortably till a few days before Election Day."When it appeared to Moscow that Secretary Clinton was likely to win the election, the Russian influence campaign began to focus more on undermining her future presidency," the report said, adding that "Russia collected on some Republican-affiliated targets but did not conduct a comparable disclosure campaign," as it did with the Democratic Party email disclosures that destroyed Hillary’s campaign.