[bobzibub]

I think that there is a second assumption which is overlooked: Hypothetically, let us assume that the Russians did break in and steal emails etc. Governments do so all the time so it could well be true. Now the question to me is: why would they release all the emails to Wikileaks? The emails seem relatively benign and not very damming of HRC. Why not keep the information in your back pocket until they can be researched and leveraged? Releasing them diminishes their value to an intelligence agency. And why not release selected HRC's (herself) emails? Surely the Russians could have gotten those of they tried. Assuming she's not squeaky clean, they could have released selected individual emails anonymously and ensured a Trump win, plus keep other assets for later. Would a better hypothesis be that US intelligence services saw break-ins and so released the information they knew foreign governments could be used as leverage aagainst a likely future president? This way they immunize against the information's use, plus blame the Russians but the US would dearly like to punish Russia for their victory in Syria anyway. This makes more sense to me but am interested in why this hypothesis is wrong or less likely.