Putin ‘personally directed Russian US election hacking as part of a campaign against Hillary Clinton

VLADIMIR Putin was personally tied to the Russian hack of the US election as part of a "vendetta" against Hillary Clinton, a shocking report has suggested.

NBC News reports senior US intelligence officials believe with "a high level of confidence" Putin directed how Democrat material was leaked and used.

According to the officials, the intelligence came from diplomatic sources and spies working for US allies.

The source told NBC the operation's goal was to "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,".

The CIA has also assessed that Russia intervened in the election to help Donald Trump - while all 17 US intelligence agencies agreed Russia was behind the Democratic National Committee hack.

Rex Tillerson, Trump's nominee for secretary of state and CEO of ExxonMobil, has close ties with Russia - and even received a personal award from Putin.

Meanwhile, Trump himself has dismissed the CIA's conclusion that Russia meddled in the US election, creating an unparalleled rift.

Former top CIA officials say Trump's rejection of its assessment could ultimately damage crucial US policy-making - unless relations can be smoothed over.

Trump added insult to injury, they say, by both ridiculing the CIA and dismissing the need for the traditional daily presidential briefing from his top security advisers.

Former CIA director Michael Hayden told CNN: "I think the president-elect is the only prominent American that has not yet conceded that the Russians conducted a massive covert influence campaign against the United States."

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee plans to hold an open hearing in January, which will examine possible meddling by Russia in the presidential election.

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