Obama orders review of Russian election hacking

President Obama has ordered intelligence agencies to conduct a complete review of the hacks and leaks that led up to and may have influenced the presidential election, according to White House homeland security and counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco.

“The President has directed the Intelligence Community to conduct a full review of what happened during the 2016 election process,” Monaco said.

Cyberattacks on the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta led to a series of damaging leaks that dogged the Clinton campaign throughout the election season. Her opponent, Donald Trump, was dismissive of the hacks and the attribution of them to Russia.

Although U.S. intelligence agencies assert that the attacks were conducted by Russian operatives, Trump told TIME magazine recently, “I don’t believe they interfered. That became a laughing point, not a talking point, a laughing point. Any time I do something, they say, ‘Oh, Russia interfered.’ Why not get along with Russia?”

Monaco said the investigation would be completed before Trump’s inauguration in January.

However, the results of the investigation may not become public, despite the fact that eight Democratic members of the Senate Intelligence Committee recently pressed Obama to declassify more information about Russian hacking.

“You want to do so very attentive to not disclosing sources and methods that would impede our ability to identify and attribute malicious actors in the future,” Monaco explained.

Republican Senators have also pushed for an investigation into Russia’s cyber intrusions, putting themselves at odds with the Republican president-elect.

“I’m going after Russia in every way you can go after Russia,” Senator Lindsey Graham told CNN earlier this week. “I think they’re one of the most destabilizing influences on the world stage. I think they did interfere with our elections, and I want Putin personally to pay the price.”