Gregory Korte

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Intelligence officials have already made clear they believe the hacking of Democratic emails was directed by Russia in an attempt to interfere with U.S. elections.

The question now is: Were they actively trying to get Donald Trump elected president?

That important distinction — between causing mayhem in order to sow doubt in the democratic process, versus actually putting a finger on the scale for the Republican candidate — has reignited the debate over the role foreign powers may have played in the 2016 presidential election.

Democrats called for congressional investigations into the hacking on Saturday, the day after President Obama ordered intelligence agencies to review the extent to which Russia and other foreign powers may have influenced presidential elections in 2008, 2012 and 2016.

Outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., alleged that FBI Director James Comey had secret evidence that Russia was supporting Trump but withheld it for partisan purposes. He offered no evidence. "This is not fake news, OK? Intelligence agencies have identified individuals with connections to the Russian government. There's no doubt about that," he told MSNBC.

The man expected to take over for Reid, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., called for congressional investigations, promising to "get to the bottom of this."

“That any country could be meddling in our elections should shake both political parties to their core," he said. "It’s imperative that our intelligence community turns over any relevant information so that Congress can conduct a full investigation.”

But President-elect Trump's team continued to downplay claims of foreign interference, even seemingly attacking the intelligence community after the Washington Post reported, based on anonymous sources, that the CIA believed that Russia may have been supporting Trump.

"These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction," the Trump transition office said in a statement. "The election ended a long time ago."

Trump bashes CIA, dismisses Russian hacking report

Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign was besieged by a series of embarrassing revelations in the campaign from leaked emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee and her campaign chairman, John Podesta. In October, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said the leaked emails were "consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts," and that it was "confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of emails from U.S. persons and institutions."

Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer, a member of Trump's transition team, noted Saturday that allegations of Russian support have come from sources unwilling to speak on the record. And he said there's no evidence that Trump benefited from Russian actions.

"What proof does anyone have that they affected the outcome? Because I've heard zero," Spicer told CNN.