Tuesday (September 10): A high-level Russian government source, extracted by US agents, had confirmed Vladimir Putin’s direct role in interfering in the 2016 US presidential election, US media reported.
CNN has reported that, the source, who had been providing information for decades, had access to Putin and had sent pictures of high-level documents on the Russian leader’s desk. The spy was pulled out of Russia in 2017 due to concerns that President Donald Trump and his cabinet could expose the asset due to repeated mishandling of classified intelligence.
Brittany Bramell, the CIA’s director of public affairs, told CNN: “Misguided speculation that the President’s handling of our nation’s most sensitive intelligence — which he has access to each and every day — drove an alleged ex-filtration operation is inaccurate.”
The CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) offered to extract the source in late 2016 but the informant initially refused, citing family issues, the New York(NY) Times reported. This prompted fears that the informant had become a double agent — but months later the source relented, the NY Times added.
The NY Times further said, the unnamed individual was key in providing information that led US intelligence to conclude Putin directly orchestrated Russian interference in favor of Trump and against his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. NY Times called the agent as the CIA’s most valuable Russian asset.
