Contrary to what United States President-elect Donald Trump dismissed earlier, several senior Republican officials expressed support to investigate the alleged involvement of Russian hackers' intervention in the recent elections.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, both from the Republican Party claimed that any form of foreign involvement or intervention in the elections is highly unacceptable. Both leaders have already announced that intelligence committees of both Houses will be investigating these allegations.
"Any foreign breach of our cyber-security measures is disturbing and I strongly condemn any such efforts (and) the Russians are not our friends, " Senator McConnell told the press. This was also supported by Ryan and also warned on using the intelligence community for engaging in 'partisan' activities in support of the hacking probe.
"As we work to protect our democracy from foreign influence, we should not cast doubt on the clear and decisive outcome of this election," Ryan said
This, despite vehement denials by Trump to discredit the report made by the Central Intelligence Agency claiming that Russian-backed hackers were involved in securing the presidential victory in favor of Trump. He said that the claims were politically- motivated.
The Russian connection was based on several entities believed to have strong ties with the Russian government and were supporting and funding 'troll' sites responsible for spreading fake news regarding Hillary Clinton. This reportedly swayed votes in favor of Trump's camp.
One of the investigators having first-hand knowledge into the hacking probe reveals there was evidence of digital footprints belonging to individuals associated with the Russian government.
This was also after the US government announced they have found evidence back in October that Russia was involved in hacking the Democratic National Committee and some groups belonging to the political party. Among the things mentioned were the stolen emails that contained damaging information regarding the Democratic Party and Clinton when she was still the Secretary of State.
Clinton, on the other hand, expressed support to members of the US electoral college to seek for an intelligence briefing on the hacking charges as it is scheduled to meet next week to ratify the results of the last US elections.
"This raises very grave issues involving our national security and that electors have a solemn responsibility under the Constitution, and we support their efforts to have their questions addressed," says John Podesta, campaign manager for Clinton in a statement.
"We now know that the CIA has determined Russia's interference in our elections was for the purpose of electing Donald Trump. This should distress every American. Never before in the history of our Republic have we seen such an effort to undermine the bedrock of our democracy," Podesta added.
Outgoing President Barack Obama has already ordered for a complete probe into the hacking allegations.
