C.I.A. Judgment on Russia Built on Swell of Evidence (late)

C.I.A. Judgment on Russia Built on Swell of Evidence (late)

American spy and law enforcement agencies were united in the belief, in the weeks before the presidential election, that the Russian government had deployed computer hackers to sow chaos during the campaign. The C.I.A.’s conclusion does not seem to be the result of specific new intelligence obtained. But instead, it was an analysis of what many believe to be overwhelming evidence. Evidence that others feel does not support firm judgments. “I think it’s ridiculous. I think it’s just another excuse. I don’t believe it,” Mr. Trump said on Sunday in an interview on Fox News. And yet Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, went public and accused the Russians of election interference. American intelligence officials also believed that Russia had access to the databases housing Republican National Committee data. More generally, the Russian government has blamed Mrs. Clinton, along with the C.I.A. and other American officials, for encouraging anti-Russian revolts during the 2003 Rose Revolution in Georgia and the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine. A senior American law enforcement official said the F.B.I. believed that the Russians probably had a combination of goals. Such as damaging Mrs. Clinton during the election and undermining American democratic institutions. But the agency’s suspicions about a direct effort by Russia to help Mr. Trump.Or about possible connections between the two camps, appear to have waned as the investigation continued into September and October. Now that a partisan squall has erupted over exactly what role Russia played in influencing the election, there is growing momentum among both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill to have a congressional investigation.