US intelligence report: Putin ordered a hacking campaign to 'harm' Hillary Clinton

A declassified version of a US intelligence report on Russian hacking has concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a campaign to influence the US presidential election with the aim of hurting Hillary Clinton's chance of winning.

The report, from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, encompasses US intelligence efforts to determine who is responsible for hacks of the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.

"We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election," the report stated. "Russia's goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency."

The report also concluded that Russia aimed to help President-elect Donald Trump win the election.

"Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump," the report stated.

It continued: "Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect Trump's election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him." The report stated that the CIA and FBI have high confidence in this judgment and the NSA has moderate confidence.

The report did not assess "the impact that Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election."

High-level US intelligence officials said in a statement earlier this week that Russia's senior-most officials were involved in hacking Democratic Party organizations.

Trump has challenged the US intelligence community's assessment of Russian involvement in election-related hacking. On Friday, after receiving a briefing from intelligence officials on the hacking, he seemed to concede the Russia could have played a role.