The United States Intelligence Community, encompassing agencies such as the CIA, FBI, and NSA, has consistently concluded that Russia orchestrated a comprehensive influence campaign targeting the 2016 U.S. presidential election. This multifaceted operation involved both the probing and accessing of state election infrastructure and the hacking and subsequent dissemination of emails from prominent political organizations. These findings directly contradict assertions, such as those made by Scott Adams in a recent tweet, that there was "no evidence" of election infrastructure hacking and that email hacks were "inconsequential."
Multiple intelligence assessments and official reports, including a detailed five-volume report from the Senate Intelligence Committee, documented an "unprecedented" level of activity by Russian intelligence against state election infrastructure across all 50 U.S. states. While these efforts did not alter vote tallies, Russian actors accessed voter registration databases in at least two states and probed systems in many others. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and FBI also released a Joint Analysis Report providing technical evidence and malware samples linked to Russian intelligence services.
Beyond infrastructure targeting, Russian military intelligence (GRU) was identified as responsible for hacking emails from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta. These stolen communications were subsequently released through WikiLeaks, a platform that U.S. intelligence assessed played a key role in the Russian influence campaign. The content, which included internal DNC discussions revealing a bias against Bernie Sanders, directly contributed to the resignation of DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Far from being "inconsequential," U.S. intelligence agencies assessed with high confidence that the Russian government directed these breaches and releases with the explicit intent to "interfere with the US election process." The strategic goal was to harm Hillary Clinton's campaign, benefit Donald Trump, and undermine public faith in the democratic process. The continuous drip of embarrassing information from the email leaks significantly disrupted the Clinton campaign's message in the crucial weeks leading up to the election.
The consensus view across the U.S. intelligence community regarding the nature and extent of Russian interference has remained consistent since early 2017. Further reinforcing these conclusions, a federal grand jury indicted 12 Russian GRU officers for their roles in the computer hacking conspiracy related to the 2016 election. These legal actions and comprehensive intelligence reports underscore the extensive nature and perceived impact of Russia's operations on the U.S. electoral landscape.