President Obama Orders Review of 2016 Election-Related Hacking

President Obama has ordered a full review of cyber attacks on the 2016 presidential election, and a report is expected to be delivered before he leaves office.

Obama counterterrorism and homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco told reporters of the president's decision at a breakfast on Friday, major news outlets, including Reuters and Politico, reported. In October, the United States formally blamed Russia for the wave of political hacking during the election, saying they were "confident" that Russia was behind hacks of e-mails from persons and institutions, including U.S. political organizations, adding that the efforts were intended to interfere with the U.S. election process.

In a joint statement issued at the time by the Department of Homeland Security and Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Election Security, officials said the "recent disclosures of alleged hacked e-mails on sites like DCLeaks.com and WikiLeaks and by the Guccifer 2.0 online persona are consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts."

On Thursday, the Washington Post reported that leading Senate Republicans are preparing to launch a coordinated probe into Russia's alleged meddling in the election.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain of Arizona is working with Senate Select Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr to investigate Russia’s suspected interference in the U.S. elections and cyberthreats to the military and other institutions. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker of Tennessee also said he plans to hold hearings next year into alleged Russian hacking. Sen. Lindsey Graham also expressed his intentions to go after Russia "in every way you can go after Russia."

The decision by Republican lawmakers sets up a potential conflict with President-elect Donald Trump, who told Time Magazine that he does not believe the intelligence community's assessment that Russia was behind the hacks. Obama administration officials told NBC News that given Trump's continued rejection of intelligence officials, Obama is concerned that Russia will go unpunished unless he acts.

A series of emails leaked by WikiLeaks in July led to the resignation of then-Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The emails showed the DNC was working to undermine the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. The emails purported to show that DNC staffers mocked the Sanders campaign and reacted negatively to criticism in the media that they felt were biased toward Clinton.

Following the leak, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee became the victim of yet another cyberattack. Reuters reported at the time that the attack was similar to the one against the DNC. Sources familiar with the matter told The Washington Post that Russian government hackers were behind the new hack.

After the hack into the DNC emails, Trump openly encouraged Russia to spy against the US, challenging them to hack into State Department emails. He later said he was joking.

In September, the emails of former Secretary of State Colin Powell were leaked and obtained by the website DCLeaks.com. The emails showed that Powell referred to Trump as a "national disgrace" and lamented Clinton's attempts to equate her email usage with his own.

This is a developing story. Refresh this page for updates.

Allen McDuffee contributed to this report

Image via White House, Flickr