Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks he helped President Donald Trump win the election, a former Kremlin adviser said in a new interview.
"It's really difficult to understand what was the level of Putin's involvement or blessing in that," Gleb Pavlovsky told PBS. "After November, after Trump was elected, the situation changed. Now Putin understands, or he believed at least, that he was strong. I don't know who believed in America that Putin elected Trump, but Putin believed that. Putin believed that, and that has become a political factor."
The U.S. intelligence community has already concluded that Russia tried to influence last year's presidential election through computer hacks and fake news. Social media and internet companies found several political ads and fake news campaigns with Russian ties.
Pavlovsky, who advised Putin for several years, said his former boss ramped up Russia's electronic efforts to influence the election when he thought Democrat Hillary Clinton was going to win.
"I think it's more likely that hackers kept talking and showing that this was not a wall, that there are no more walls in the world; there are no more borders in the world," Pavlovsky said. "Putin did not believe in that for a long time. For sure he has allowed something to be done.
"He most probably thought that Clinton would be the winning candidate, and he tried to build his propaganda accordingly. Why not help her adversaries? They will be helpful most probably if he gives them a helping hand."
The Department of Justice's Russia probe is investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. Putin has denied Russia interfered with the election.
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