An Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) published by the US Director of National Intelligence in January 2017 purported that Putin wanted Trump to win the election.
However, the assessment’s authors fabricated the intelligence on the claim, the report said, citing sources close to a House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia scandal.
The findings of the HPSCI investigation are being blocked from release, according to the report.
Evidence indicates that Putin actually preferred Clinton, the report said. The House investigators found that US intelligence analysts had information about Russians calling Trump unreliable and unsteady, the report said.
In contrast, intelligence indicates that Russians viewed Clinton as manageable and likely to continue existing US policies, the report said.
Former CIA Director John Brennan led the attempt to frame Trump as Putin’s preferred candidate in the ICA, the report said. The HPSCI investigation determined that the intelligence community conducted the assessment for political purposes, the report said.
On Wednesday, Putin said in an interview with Russian media that it would be better for Russia for current US President Joe Biden to remain in office because he is more predictable. Trump called Putin’s remarks a "great compliment" and said that Biden would give up everything to Russia.
Russia will work with any president elected by US citizens, Putin added.
In the wake of the 2016 election campaign, former President Trump was investigated by federal agencies for possible ties between his aides and Russia. Both Trump and Russia denied allegations of collusion.
A four-year investigation by US Special Counsel Robert Mueller into the allegations found no evidence of a criminal conspiracy.
A subsequent investigation by US Special Counsel John Durham concluded that the FBI should have never launched the probe into the collusion allegations.