Former officials see Russian effort to disrupt election
Despite President Trump’s saying that it’s all just “fake news,” James R. Clapper, who was U.S. director of national intelligence from 2010 until January, said he has no doubt that Russia successfully interfered in the 2016 election and “clearly favored” Trump over Hillary Clinton. “Clearly, the Russians — and the shots were called at the highest level — were interested first in sowing dissension and doubt and discord in this country,” Clapper said. As the campaign went on, however, he said their aims switched to helping Trump. “They, too, didn’t initially take Mr. Trump seriously, but later on they did,” Clapper said Tuesday evening at Harvard Kennedy School, where he discussed the ongoing FBI investigation into Russian interference and whether any members of the Trump campaign had participated in it. Russia’s primary motivation was “intense animus” toward both Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, he said. Russia mounted a multifaceted...