An intelligence briefing on Russian interference in the US election was demanded by 29 members of the electoral college after it was alleged that President Putin directed hacking into Democrat computers.
In a letter to James Clapper, National Intelligence director, they called for “all investigative findings” on hacking undertaken by foreign agents to be disclosed to all 538 members of the college, who will meet on Monday to rubber-stamp the result. Donald Trump won 306 electoral college votes and Hillary Clinton took 232 in the election.
Of the 29 electors who have signed the letter, all but one are Democrats. They argued that the purpose of the Electoral College was to deliberate on whether a president-elect was qualified to serve and to prevent “a desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils”.
They said intelligence on the hacking and Donald Trump’s ties to Russia must be released in order to do so.
Pressure on Mr Clapper to shed more light on the findings mounted when NBC News reported a direct link between the hackers and President Putin.
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Intelligence from diplomats and spies revealed that Mr Putin directed the release of stolen correspondence from the Democratic National Committee and members of Mrs Clinton’s team, senior intelligence officials told the TV network.
The operation began as a personal vendetta against Mrs Clinton, who had questioned the legitimacy of Mr Putin’s election victory in 2011, but became an effort to undermine trust in the American electoral system, the official said. The goal was to “split off key American allies by creating the image that [other countries] couldn’t depend on the US to be a credible global leader anymore”.
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, said the allegations were “amusing rubbish that has no basis in fact”.
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said he was stunned by the accusations and claimed that it was “stupid and absolutely pointless to try to convince anyone” that they were true.
Congressmen from both parties have agreed to investigate the hacking. Three senate committees will hold hearings and the House Intelligence committee will launch its own closed-door inquiry.
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President Obama has begun a separate review and the White House claimed that Mr Trump was “obviously aware” that the Russian hacking would influence the election.
“There was ample evidence that was known long before the election . . . about the Trump campaign in Russia,” Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman, said. In July, Mr Trump invited Russia to hack Mrs Clinton’s emails during a press conference.
Mr Trump has cast scepticism on intelligence reports since it emerged last week that CIA officials had concluded that the Kremlin’s hacking efforts were undertaken to help elect him.
This morning he tweeted: “If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?”
Lindsey Graham, a senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, accepted the CIA’s conclusion. He told CNN that his own campaign was hacked. Intelligence officials had said that Republicans were hacked during the election but the information stolen was not released.
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“I do believe that all the information released publicly hurt Clinton and didn’t hurt Trump,” Mr Graham said.
Chris Suprun, a Republican member of the electoral college from Texas, said: “From the latest CIA news, it appears to me that he [Trump] is a danger. It was telling that Mr Trump’s first response when this report came out was not to defend the CIA.”
Mr Suprun is the only Republican to have signed the letter asking to be briefed. He said he would not vote for Mr Trump next week, even though the tycoon won the popular vote in his state.