ItвЂ™s not in our charter.вЂќ He emphasized that, although he and other intelligence officials produced-and shared with Trump-a postelection report confirming an extensive cyberattack by Russia, the assessment did not attempt to gauge how this foreign meddling had affected American voters.

James Clapper, the former director of National Intelligence, told me, вЂњWe try not to spy on Americans. intelligence community, for its part, is prohibited from investigating domestic political affairs. Instead of investigating whether Russia tipped the electoral scales on its own, theyвЂ™ve focussed on the possibility that Trump colluded with Russia, and that this, along with other crimes, might be exposed by the probe being conducted by the special counsel, Robert Mueller. Many have also expressed frustration with ClintonвЂ™s weak performance as a candidate, and with her campaignвЂ™s tactical errors. director, for reversing ClintonвЂ™s thin lead in the final days of the campaign by reopening a criminal investigation into her mishandling of classified e-mails. They have more readily blamed James Comey, the former F.B.I. Democrats, for the most part, have avoided attributing Hillary ClintonвЂ™s defeat directly to Russian machinations. In public, Trump has characterized all efforts to investigate the foreign attacks on American democracy during the campaign as a вЂњwitch huntвЂќ in March, he insisted that вЂњthe Russians had no impact on our votes whatsoever.вЂќДЇew people, including TrumpвЂ™s opponents, have publicly challenged the widespread belief that no obtainable evidence can prove that Russian interference changed any votes.

Trump dismisses the idea that Russian interference affected the outcome of the 2016 election, calling it a вЂњmade-up story,вЂќ вЂњridiculous,вЂќ and вЂњa hoax.вЂќ He finds the subject so threatening to his legitimacy that-according to вЂњ The Perfect Weapon,вЂќ a recent book on cyber sabotage by David Sanger, of the Times-aides say he refuses even to discuss it. Donald Trump has adopted many contradictory positions since taking office, but he has been unwavering on one point: that Russia played no role in putting him in the Oval Office.

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