New York (CNN)Hillary Clinton blamed Vladimir Putin for the hacking of Democratic organizations during the 2016 election, telling donors that the Russian President's involvement stemmed from a "personal beef against me."
During a short speech pegged as a "thank you party" at the The Plaza Hotel, Clinton said the 2016 election hacking was enough to tip the balance in Donald Trump's favor. The comments were her first since the news of Putin's involvement.
Clinton, based on audio obtained by the New York Times and sources in the room, did not mention President-elect Donald Trump in regards to the hacking, but her comments reacting to news that the United States intelligence assessment of the 2016 hacking suggests Putin was involved was seen in …show more content…
Hacked material from both the Democratic National Committee and Podesta found itself at the center of the 2016 campaign, used extensively by Trump against Clinton. WikiLeaks, the organization that published much of the material, released groups of Podesta's emails for weeks before the November election.
A US official familiar with the election-related hacking told CNN Thursday that the operation was carried out with sophisticated hacking tools, suggesting that Putin was involved. The source said while Putin's "fingerprints" were not on the hacking, "the nature of the operation was such that this had to be approved by top levels of the Russian government."
Clinton's speech, the donors said, was not deeply reflective and instead urged them to stay engaged with the Democratic Party. Clinton specifically told her supporters not to lose heart and implored them to stand up for democracy both here and abroad, one source added.
Clinton said Russia's hacking was "part of a long term strategy to cause us to doubt ourselves and to create the circumstances in which Americans either wittingly or unwittingly will begin to cede their freedoms to a much more powerful
During a short speech pegged as a "thank you party" at the The Plaza Hotel, Clinton said the 2016 election hacking was enough to tip the balance in Donald Trump's favor. The comments were her first since the news of Putin's involvement.
Clinton, based on audio obtained by the New York Times and sources in the room, did not mention President-elect Donald Trump in regards to the hacking, but her comments reacting to news that the United States intelligence assessment of the 2016 hacking suggests Putin was involved was seen in …show more content…
Hacked material from both the Democratic National Committee and Podesta found itself at the center of the 2016 campaign, used extensively by Trump against Clinton. WikiLeaks, the organization that published much of the material, released groups of Podesta's emails for weeks before the November election.
A US official familiar with the election-related hacking told CNN Thursday that the operation was carried out with sophisticated hacking tools, suggesting that Putin was involved. The source said while Putin's "fingerprints" were not on the hacking, "the nature of the operation was such that this had to be approved by top levels of the Russian government."
Clinton's speech, the donors said, was not deeply reflective and instead urged them to stay engaged with the Democratic Party. Clinton specifically told her supporters not to lose heart and implored them to stand up for democracy both here and abroad, one source added.
Clinton said Russia's hacking was "part of a long term strategy to cause us to doubt ourselves and to create the circumstances in which Americans either wittingly or unwittingly will begin to cede their freedoms to a much more powerful