The CIA found that Russia's interference with the presidential elections went beyond an attempt to undermine American democracy as a whole - and actively favored Donald Trump's chances, it has been claimed.

Those who provided WikiLeaks with emails from hacked Democratic accounts have been identified by intelligence authorities as members of a Russian campaign who worked towards the goal of seeing Trump elected, officials told the Washington Post.

The shocking conclusion, made by a 'consensus' of intelligence agencies, was reported the same day President Barack Obama ordered a review of cyber attacks that targeted Democratic organizations and operatives during the 2016 elections.

But Trump's transition team shot down the findings, issuing a statement that read: 'These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.'

The CIA found that Russia's interference with the presidential elections went beyond an attempt to undermine American democracy as a whole - and actively favored Donald Trump

Confidential emails from the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta, the Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, were steadily leaked on WikiLeaks in the months before the election, damaging her White House effort.

The US has previously tiptoed around Russia's involvement in the elections, saying the goal was to undermine the American electoral system as a whole.

But intelligence agencies found the Russians also hacked the Republican National Committee, one official told the New York Times, even though those emails were never released.

The CIA presented the growing evidence during a secret meeting with a number of senators last week, with agents saying it had become 'quite clear' that the Russians were supporting a Trump victory, the Post reported.

One official who spoke to the Post described it as a 'consensus view', but not all 17 intelligence agencies agreed with the CIA's findings.

While the individuals who handed the hacked emails to Wikileaks are known to the intelligence community, with links to the Russian government, there's no evidence showing the Kremlin orchestrating their efforts, one official told the Post.

But the Russian government has been known to utilize middlemen in the past.

Others point to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's denial that the Russian government provided the emails of key Democratic party members.

Trump has also shot down signs pointing to Russian interference, telling TIME: 'I don't believe they interfered...Anytime I do something, they say "Oh, Russia interfered.''

He continued: 'It could be Russia. And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey.'

On Friday, his transition team likened the intelligence agencies to those who made flawed claims about Saddam Hussein.

They told Politico: 'The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It's now time to move on and "Make America Great Again."'

Obama is also pushing for a full review, with the goal of publishing the findings before Trump's inauguration

Obama, meanwhile, is pushing for a full review to be completed before Trump's inauguration.

Initiated just this week, the review runs parallel to congressional calls for an inquiry, but wasn't inspired by them, according to the White House.

Lisa Monaco, Obama's homeland security adviser, said at a breakfast hosted by The Christian Science Monitor on Friday that it was vital to 'understand what this means, what has happened and to impart some lessons learned.'

The move comes after Democrats in Congress pressed the White House to reveal details, to Congress or to the public, of Russian hacking and disinformation in the election.

Some Republican lawmakers, including Arizona Senator John McCain and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, also have called for congressional probes of what happened.

'When it comes to all things Russia, I am going to be kind of hard-ass,' Graham told a reporters in the Senate last month, as DailyMail.com reported.

Democratic lawmakers also have pushed for a bipartisan commission to investigate the meddling in U.S. elections from abroad.

Hacked emails revealed that staffers had their own concerns about Clinton's private email server, creating negative headlines in the final days of the campaign

Clinton campaign chair John Podesta's personal account got hacked and his emails were posted on WikiLeaks during the campaign. Embarrassing disclosures followed

Senator Chuck Schumer, set to become Democratic minority leader in January, called for a congressional probe into the matter.

'That any country could be meddling in our elections should shake both political parties to their core,' he said Saturday.

'It's imperative that our intelligence community turns over any relevant information so that Congress can conduct a full investigation.'

The White House said Friday at least some of the information would be made public.

‘He's requested this report be completed and submitted to him before the end of his term,’ said White House spokesman Eric Schultz.

Schultz noted that the Obama and McCain campaigns had intrusions in 2008. He said there are no known hacks from 2012 but the review will include that year as a precaution, based on what we know now.

‘We are committed to ensuring the integrity of our elections, and this report will dig into this pattern of malicious activity timed to our elections,’ Schultz said. The assessment will specifically look at activity that coincides with U.S. elections, he said.

‘We're going to make public as much as we can,’ Schultz said, but considering that the report will contain ‘highly sensitive’ and ‘maybe even classified information’ some intelligence will be held back.

‘Given that the directive to launch this review was just this week we want to make sure that that process unfolds in all due accord,’ the White House official said.

The DNC hack, on the eve of the Democratic convention, revealed a series of damaging emails, and fueled Clinton rival Senator Bernie Sanders' contention that that the party had been working to assist Clinton.

The Podesta hack had Team Clinton playing defense for the final weeks of the campaign, as emails revealed all manner of deliberations about Clinton's private email server, Clinton Foundation matters, and exposed fissures within Clinton's network of political operatives about how to handle the conflicts.

The US Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in a statement on October 7, one month before the election, stated that 'the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of emails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations.'

'These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process,' they said.

Germany's domestic intelligence agency on Thursday reported a spike in Russian propaganda and disinformation meant to destabilize the German elections, Reuters reported.