MOSCOW – US agents extracted a high-level mole in the Russian governmentwho had confirmed Vladimir Putin’s direct role in interfering in the 2016presidential election, American media reported.
The individual had been providing information to US intelligence fordecades, had access to Putin and had sent pictures of high-level documentson the Russian leader’s desk, CNN said.
But the spy was pulled out of Russia, both CNN and the New York Timesreported late Monday.
The Times reported that the CIA initially offered to extract the source inlate 2016 over fears about media exposure, after officials revealed theseverity of Russia’s election interference in extensive detail.
The informant initially refused — citing family issues and prompting fearsthe individual had become a double agent, the Times said.
Months later, the agent relented as media inquiries about a mole continued.
CNN, citing an unnamed person it said was involved in discussions on theasset, said the 2017 extraction was over concerns that President DonaldTrump and his cabinet could expose the agent after repeated mishandling ofclassified intelligence. The CIA vehemently denied this charge.
The network cited the intelligence community’s particular concern afterTrump confiscated a translator’s notes following a 2017 private meetingwith Putin.
The CIA’s director of public affairs, Brittany Bramell, told CNN:”Misguided speculation that the President’s handling of our nation’s mostsensitive intelligence — which he has access to each and every day –drove an alleged exfiltration operation is inaccurate.”
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham told the network: “CNN’sreporting is not only incorrect, it has the potential to put lives indanger.”
The individual was key in providing information that led US intelligence toconclude Putin directly orchestrated Russian interference in favor of Trumpand against his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, theTimes said.
The informant also directly linked Putin to the hacking of the DemocraticNational Committee, resulting in the release of a flood of embarrassingmessages, the newspaper reported.
According to the Times, the agent was the CIA’s most valuable Russian asset.
The extraction “effectively blinded” American intelligence to the Kremlin’sinner workings during the 2018 US midterm election, the Times report said,as well as the upcoming 2020 presidential election.
On Tuesday, Russian media named the alleged spy, reporting that he hadworked at the Russian embassy in Washington before moving to Moscow.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the man who was identified had workedin the Kremlin but had been fired and did not have direct contact with theRussian leader.
Peskov said the US reports were “rather in the genre of pulp fiction.”
“I don’t know whether he was an agent or not. I can only confirm that heworked for the presidential administration and he was sacked,” he said.
US network NBC meanwhile claimed to have found a man living in theWashington area who — according to two FBI sources — matched thedescriptions of the man in the CNN report.
When the NBC correspondent approached the home two men — who identifiedthemselves as friends of the Russian — suddenly appeared and questionedwhy he wanted to speak to the occupant. -APP/AFP