By — Jill Colvin, Associated Press Jill Colvin, Associated Press By — Colleen Long, Associated Press Colleen Long, Associated Press Leave a comment 0comments Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/homeland-security-head-says-shes-unaware-russia-wanted-trump-to-win Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Homeland Security head says she’s unaware Russia wanted Trump to win Politics May 22, 2018 11:50 AM EDT WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Tuesday she was unaware of intelligence assessments concluding that Russia favored Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. The U.S. intelligence community said in a January 2017 assessment that Russia had tried to influence the election to benefit Trump. “I do not believe I’ve seen that conclusion that the specific intent was to help President Trump win. I’m not aware of that,” Nielsen told reporters after briefing members of the House on election security efforts. Homeland Security is the agency that oversees election security. The Senate intelligence committee said last week that it agrees with the intelligence agencies’ assessment. That was at odds with Republican members of the House intelligence committee, who said that while Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to hamper Clinton’s campaign, that didn’t mean he wanted to help Trump. The House committee said the intelligence agencies failed to use “proper analytic tradecraft” when they assessed Putin’s intentions. READ MORE: FBI, Justice Dept. officials agree to meet with congressional leaders to ‘review’ information on Russia probe We're not going anywhere. Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on! Donate now By — Jill Colvin, Associated Press Jill Colvin, Associated Press By — Colleen Long, Associated Press Colleen Long, Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Tuesday she was unaware of intelligence assessments concluding that Russia favored Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. The U.S. intelligence community said in a January 2017 assessment that Russia had tried to influence the election to benefit Trump. “I do not believe I’ve seen that conclusion that the specific intent was to help President Trump win. I’m not aware of that,” Nielsen told reporters after briefing members of the House on election security efforts. Homeland Security is the agency that oversees election security. The Senate intelligence committee said last week that it agrees with the intelligence agencies’ assessment. That was at odds with Republican members of the House intelligence committee, who said that while Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to hamper Clinton’s campaign, that didn’t mean he wanted to help Trump. The House committee said the intelligence agencies failed to use “proper analytic tradecraft” when they assessed Putin’s intentions. READ MORE: FBI, Justice Dept. officials agree to meet with congressional leaders to ‘review’ information on Russia probe We're not going anywhere. Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on! Donate now