The former Defense Intelligence Agency boss doubts that Russian hackers plotted to hand Donald Trump the presidency, revealing that it may be impossible to uncover the intent of the hacks or even who was behind it.
What’s more, David Shedd, former acting DIA director, said that intelligence agencies are clashing over the claims and evidence that the Russian government was the perpetrator in hacking the Democratic National Committee and unveiling embarrassing emails to hurt Hillary Rodham Clinton and hand Trump the win.
On Sunday’s Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson, he tells the host that the details are too murky to blame Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I don’t know that we can say,” he said on the show broadcast live at 9:30 a.m. on Sinclair stations and online.
“I always side with the ‘not so sure’ because the indicators are not always that clear in terms of the attributes associated with those who either did the attack or, in fact, attempted to influence the elections. And so I’m far more cautious in terms of the attribution, not so much that Russia was behind it, but rather its intent,” he added.
Both Trump and Putin have scoffed at the accusations pushed by the White House and Democratic aides to Clinton.
Shedd didn’t deny the hacking, and said it is clear the attackers wanted to influence events, but it isn’t clear for who or by who.
“What I am not saying in this case is that I know that the Russians sided with Donald Trump in terms of the president-elect that we have today, but I think there is a real interest in terms of influencing events,” he told Attkisson.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
