welcome to bbc news. president putin tried to boost donald trump s campaign for the presidency according to a report published tonight by us intelligence officials. the report was released shortly after intelligence chiefs had briefed mr trump on theirfindings. the president elect insisted that any cyber espionage by russia, china or anyone else had not influenced the result. but he s ordered a plan to be delivered within 90 days of taking office on developing an ‘aggressive reponse to cyberattacks as our correspondent nick bryant reports. american intelligence tonight released its explosive report, claiming that vladimir putin personally ordered what it called an influence campaign to help donald trump s chances of winning the presidency by denigrating hillary clinton and harming her electability. it concludes, the kremlin had a clear preference for the billionaire. donald trump today described the investigation as a political witch hunt by adversaries badly beaten in the
in the american presidential election. it is as conclusive as it is damning, pointing the finger directly at vladimir putin and saying he ordered an influence campaign aimed at undermining public faith in the us democratic system. it states their understanding that the russian government developed a clear preference for president elect trump over hillary clinton, and backed what private cyberspace companies have long concluded that a russian group known as fancy bear was behind the leaked emails of top democrats. the report emerged shortly after a meeting between trump and his top spies this afternoon. donald trump called the meeting constructive and appeared to admit foreign spies could be behind some of the hacking. but he refused once more to believe the outcome of the election had in any way been affected. this is where it all started so publicly, the democratic national convention injuly, a chance for a presidential candidate to shine in front of an adoring party c