Hillary Clinton says the Russians had to be guided by Americans

Hillary Clinton charged that misinformation and “fake news” spread over the course of the 2016 presidential campaign had to have been “guided” — potentially by the campaign of President Donald Trump.

Appearing onstage at the Code Conference, Clinton pointed to a report by the government’s top intelligence agencies, released in January, which found Russia sought to “influence” and “undermine” the election. The FBI is still investigating ties between agents of Moscow and the Trump administration, but Clinton said Tuesday she is “leaning” in a direction that suggests the two coordinated.

“The Russians, in my opinion ... could not have known how best to weaponize that information unless they have been guided ... by Americans,” Clinton charged.

Clinton specifically pointed to the release of John Podesta’s hacked emails, which had been published online by WikiLeaks. She said the document dump only came an hour after a story in the Washington Post unearthed a 2005 tape of Trump making a controversial comment about women on the set of Access Hollywood.

Going forward, Clinton said, “I think it’s fair to ask, how did that actually influence the campaign, and how did they know what messages to deliver? Who told them? Who were they coordinating with, and colluding with?”

Watch: Hillary Clinton on Russia and the election

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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