US Identifies Russian Hacker for Trump

WASHINGTON DC - US goverment has identified the Russian agents behind alleged hacking ahead of the presidential election won by Donald Trump in November.

The agents, whose names have not been released, are alleged to have sent stolen Democratic emails to WikiLeaks to try to swing the vote for Mr Trump.

Russia denies any involvement and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says Moscow was not the source. Intelligence officials are due to brief Mr Trump, who doubts the claims, later.

Vice-President Joe Biden lambasted the president-elect on Thursday for attacking the intelligence community over the claims, saying it was "absolutely mindless" not to have faith in the agencies.

At about the same time, President-elect Trump appeared to question in a tweet the confidence of intelligence agencies' findings, asking why they decided not to request to examine computers belonging to the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

What are the hacking allegations? Biden said he had read a US intelligence agencies report outlining Russian involvement, the details of which are starting to emerge in US media.

According to CNN, the Washington Post and NBC News citing intelligence sources, agencies had intercepted communications in the aftermath of the election showing senior Russian government officials celebrating Donald Trump's win over rival Hillary Clinton.

They had also identified go-betweens who delivered stolen Democratic emails to the Wikileaks website, sources said, without providing further details.

NBC News says the alleged Russian hacking targeted not just the DNC but also the White House, joint chiefs of staff, the department of state and large US corporations.

An unclassified version of the report will be made public next week.