Secretary of State John Kerry says he raised the email hack of the Democratic National Committee with Russia's top diplomat but stopped short of making any allegation about who might be responsible.
According to CBS, Kerry told reporters Tuesday he brought the matter up with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a meeting in Laos and explained that the FBI was investigating. He did not, however, repeat allegations or echo suspicions that Russia was responsible for the hack and said he would not draw conclusions until the probe is complete. "I raised the question and we will continue to work to see precisely what those facts are," Kerry said. He would not say if Lavrov responded
Earlier, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov responded to accusations that Russia was allegedly behind the DNC server hack, when he blasted a reporter over her question that Russia was behind the DNC email leaks. Lavrov had a concise reply, stating: "I don't want to use four-letter words."
He was speaking ahead of talks at the ASEAN summit in Laos.
This appears to be a denial of the accusations.
Cybersecurity experts and U.S. officials have said there is evidence that Russia engineered the release of the emails in order to influence the U.S. presidential election.
Earlier, the FBI said it was investigating a cyber intrusion at the DNC, adding that Russia is the leading suspect in the hack.
On Sunday, Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, claimed in an interview with CNN that “experts are telling us that Russian state actors broke into the DNC, stole these emails, and other experts are now saying that the Russians are releasing these emails for the purpose of actually helping Donald Trump.”
When asked what kind of evidence he had to back up that theory, Mook answered: "Well, we need the experts speak on this. It's been reported on in the press that the hackers that got into the DNC are very likely to be working in coordination with Russia.”
Previously Trump also slammed the theory, saying that Clinton campaigners will say anything to be able to win. I mean this is time and time again, lie after lie. You notice he [Mook] won’t say, ‘Well, I say this.’ We hear ‘experts’. His house cat at home once said this is what’s happening with the Russians. It’s disgusting. It’s so phony,” he told CNN.
Neither the Clinton campaign, the White House, nor lawmakers briefed on the hack definitively linked the leak to the Russian government on Monday.
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