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CIA must show evidence Russia intervened in the election: GOP

Top Republicans blasted reports from anonymous US intelligence sources that Russia hacked Democratic e-mail accounts with the intention of swaying Americans to vote for Donald Trump.

Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer demanded Saturday that the Central Intelligence Agency show evidence Russia intervened in the election.

“What proof does anyone have that they affected the outcome? Because I’ve heard zero. OK?” he told CNN. “So show me what facts have actually shown that anything undermined that election.”

“If [the CIA] is so certain it happened, why won’t they go on the record and say it?”

Intelligence sources told The New York Times and The Washington Post that they have “high confidence” that Russian cyberspies accessed Republican National Committee, Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign records, but only forwarded Democratic messages to WikiLeaks in an attempt to diminish Clinton and help Trump win the presidency.





Spicer insisted the reports were wrong and claimed the RNC account was never hacked. He accused intelligence officials of being “upset with the outcome of the election” and “pushing a personal agenda.”

Democrats fired back, accusing the FBI of knowing Russia was trying to help Trump win and “deliberately kept the information a secret” anyway.

“This is not fake news. Intelligence officials are hiding connections to the Russian government. There is no question,” outgoing Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said in an interview with MSNBC Saturday.

On Friday, President Obama ordered a full review of Russia’s role in the DNC leaks and the presidential election. Incoming Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer demanded a congressional probe.

But the Trump transition team compared reports on alleged foreign hacking to claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and said it was time for the country to “move on.”





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