Security News > 2020 > August > Senate: WikiLeaks Knowingly Assisted Russian Influence Effort Before 2016 Election
A new report from the Senate intelligence committee on Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election in the United States says WikiLeaks knowingly assisted the Kremlin's influence efforts.
The United States has concluded that Russia conducted an extensive influence campaign leading up to the 2016 election, and a significant part of that campaign involved breaking into the computer systems of the Democratic party and Hilary Clinton's campaign and leaking information via the whistleblower website WikiLeaks.
WikiLeaks has been accused of meddling in the election through its actions, but a Senate report published on Tuesday claims that "WikiLeaks actively sought, and played, a key role in the Russian influence campaign and very likely knew it was assisting a Russian intelligence influence effort."
Some parts of the 966-page report, including in the "Hack and Leak" section, are redacted, but the Senate committee said it had determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the cyberattacks on the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign in an effort to harm the Clinton campaign and help the Trump campaign.
Republican senator Marco Rubio, chairman of the committee that released the report, stated that while the investigation did find irrefutable evidence of Russian meddling, it "Found absolutely no evidence that then-candidate Donald Trump or his campaign colluded with the Russian government to meddle in the 2016 election."