The Washington Post reported Friday evening that the CIA says Russia intervened in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to help Donald Trump win, rather than just to undermine confidence in the political system as was reported during the campaign.

Snip:

Intelligence agencies have identified individuals with connections to the Russian government who provided WikiLeaks with thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and others, including Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, according to U.S. officials. Those officials described the individuals as actors known to the intelligence community and part of a wider Russian operation to boost Trump and hurt Clinton's chances. "It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russia's goal here was to favor one candidate over the other, to help Trump get elected," said a senior U.S. official briefed on an intelligence presentation made to U.S. senators. "That's the consensus view."

The CIA shared its secret assessment with key senators in a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill last week, the report goes on to explain. In the meeting, CIA officials referenced a growing body of intel from multiple sources, and told the senators it was now "quite clear" that electing Trump was Russia's goal.



Julian Assange, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of WikiLeaks speaks via video link during a press conference on the occasion of the ten year anniversary celebration of WikiLeaks in Berlin, Germany, October 4, 2016. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt

Don't just skim this story, though. This is a deep dive into literal infowars. What the hell did Mitch McConnell do here?

The Obama administration has been debating for months how to respond to the alleged Russian intrusions, with White House officials concerned about escalating tensions with Moscow and being accused of trying to boost Clinton's campaign. In September, during a secret briefing for congressional leaders, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) voiced doubts about the veracity of the intelligence, according to officials present.

Team Trump shrugged off the report Friday evening, after the Washington Post story broke.

"These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. 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,' " read the Trump Transition team statement. Two of these three sentences are provably false.

Trump has been dissing the intelligence community's assessment of the Russia matter for some time now.

"I don't believe they interfered" in the election, he told TIME in his long-coveted "Person of the Year" feature this week. The hacking "could be Russia," he told TIME.

"And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey."

Maybe he meant Chris Christie.

The New York Times reports that officials believe Russia acted covertly late in the campaign season to destroy Hillary Clinton's odds, and help Trump, but that the assessment also confirms that the Democrats weren't the only ones Russia pwned. The RNC was hacked by Russia, too.

They based that conclusion, in part, on another finding — which they say was also reached with high confidence — that the Russians hacked the Republican National Committee's computer systems in addition to their attacks on Democratic organizations, but did not release whatever information they gleaned from the Republican networks.

And yet, instead of reporting on any of the infowars, American media mostly reported on the contents of the leaks themselves. Just like Russia wanted.

Russia influencing US election to put Trump in power is bigger than Watergate. — David Corn (@DavidCornDC) December 10, 2016

Meanwhile, Hillary is up by 2.83 million votes, or 2.1%. Btw this and Secret CIA report, Trump needs to step down. https://t.co/09ohAMLRvO — Amy Siskind (@Amy_Siskind) December 10, 2016

Soul crushing are the only words I have. Can barely stand to read the story. https://t.co/Me5wUBfQTa — Jennifer Palmieri (@jmpalmieri) December 10, 2016

Look. For everyone casting stones, it's not like Trump asked Russia to hack Clintons emails. Oh wait — Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) December 10, 2016

There are three sentences in this Trump statement about the CIA finding. Two are provably, factually incorrect. pic.twitter.com/tSYVKUTT5U — John Rogers (@jonrog1) December 10, 2016

Here's the report on that moment https://t.co/ecZmerz7rs — Colin Jones (@colinjones) December 10, 2016

JUST IN: US officials believe Russia not only tried to influence election, but also favored Trump, intelligence sources confirm to CBS News. — CBS News (@CBSNews) December 10, 2016

So @HillaryClinton ran against the GOP, the Russians, the Green Party, and many Bernie supporters — and still only lost on a technicality. — Josh Knowles (@chasing) December 10, 2016

@xeni Maybe he should just be kept out of the White House while we figure out what's going on. — John O'Neil (@THAToneil) December 10, 2016

The news here is not just what's in the headline… the McConnell plot is jaw-dropping https://t.co/MGsfhDeXfj — Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) December 10, 2016

Publicly disavow the CIA? Check.

Lie about margin of victory? Check. pic.twitter.com/lxfY47O8Se — Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) December 10, 2016

It's concerning that some incoming Admin officials are willing to believe internet conspiracy theories, but not US intelligence agencies. — Mo Elleithee (@MoElleithee) December 10, 2016

GOP leadership committed a form of treason. Nothing will happen. — Glenn Fleishman (@GlennF) December 10, 2016

Obama should have forced sharing info with American people. Shameful he didn't. GOP efforts to block are worse, bordering on the unthinkable — John Weaver (@JWGOP) December 10, 2016

A foreign power successfully installed their favored client as our president. He is putting his cronies in govt. This will all be fine. — Ana Marie Cox (@anamariecox) December 10, 2016

And here we thought it was economic anxiety that put Trump over the top. It was, I guess. His own. — Ana Marie Cox (@anamariecox) December 10, 2016

Don't just read the headline and lede on this one. Keep going, paying particular attention to the White House/Gang of 12 meeting. https://t.co/XFCrsNN1UN — Steve Benen (@stevebenen) December 10, 2016

Don't just read the headline and lede on this one. Keep going, paying particular attention to the White House/Gang of 12 meeting. https://t.co/XFCrsNN1UN — Steve Benen (@stevebenen) December 10, 2016

Reminder: If Obama were the power-crazed hack conspiracy theorists envision, he would have done far more publicly to counter/expose Russia. — Brendan Nyhan (@BrendanNyhan) December 10, 2016

Electors, if you were feeling saucy, looking to refute electoral shitnanigans… Hillary Clinton is in the woods waiting for your call. — Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) December 10, 2016

Fun: imagine Hillary was elected with Russian help and gave donors cabinet posts and kept the Clinton Foundation and went on a victory tour — Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) December 10, 2016