Putin personally had a hand in election hacks: US officials

In an interview with NBC, two senior officials who have seen new information gathered by U.S. intelligence agencies say Russian President Vladimir Putin was personally involved in the hacking campaign to interfere with the U.S. election.

Saying they have a "high level of confidence" in what they have seen, they believe that Putin personally dictated how information stolen from the Democratic National Committee was rolled out to damage the candidacy of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

According to a source, Putin's "vendetta" against Hillary Clinton grew into an effort to undermine the American political process and "split off key American allies by creating the image that [other countries] couldn't depend on the U.S. to be a credible global leader anymore."

Former ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, agreed with the assessment saying, "It is most certainly consistent with the Putin that I have watched and used to work with when I was an ambassador and in the government."

Watch the video below via NBC: