![]() Yet Politico’s investigation found evidence of Ukrainian government involvement in the race that appears to strain diplomatic protocol dictating that governments refrain from engaging in one another’s elections. And President Petro Poroshenko’s administration, along with the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, insists that Ukraine stayed neutral in the race. ![]() ![]() Longtime observers suggest that the rampant corruption, factionalism and economic struggles plaguing the country - not to mention its ongoing strife with Russia - would render it unable to pull off an ambitious covert interference campaign in another country’s election. There’s little evidence of such a top-down effort by Ukraine. And at a Senate hearing last week on the hacking, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said “I don’t think we’ve ever encountered a more aggressive or direct campaign to interfere in our election process than we’ve seen in this case.” They reportedly briefed Trump last week on the possibility that Russian operatives might have compromising information on the president-elect. Russia’s effort was personally directed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, involved the country’s military and foreign intelligence services, according to U.S. But they were far less concerted or centrally directed than Russia’s alleged hacking and dissemination of Democratic emails. The Ukrainian efforts had an impact in the race, helping to force Manafort’s resignation and advancing the narrative that Trump’s campaign was deeply connected to Ukraine’s foe to the east, Russia.
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