Russian officials dismiss the suggestion that the Kremlin hacked Democratic Party emails as a "maniacal" ploy to exploit fear of Russia and gain traction in the presidential election, although they do not specify who they think had planted the story. "This is not breaking new ground," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Tuesday when asked about the leaked emails, according to a Reuters report. "This is an old trick which is being played again." American intelligence agencies said this week they had "high confidence " that the Russian government had stolen emails and documents from the Democratic National Committee, the only question was whether the Kremlin had engineered their release last weekend in order to influence the election. In an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America" on Tuesday, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said he could not say whether the Russian government was behind the hack, but that it fit with their "modus agendi," using a Latin term which means way of operating. "I would say it’s totally consistent with who Putin is," Biden said. The emails, released by activist group WikiLeaks, appeared to show favoritism within Party for Hillary Clinton and prompted the resignation of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has said he would like to harm Clinton's chances of becoming president. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, meanwhile share a mutual admiration. Putin, for example, has described Trump as, "Very talented." And Trump responded it was “a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond.”But when U.S. Secretary of State <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/john-kerry/" target="_blank">John Kerry</a> raised the hacking issue at a meeting in Laos with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the Russian diplomat forcefully rejected the idea that his country might be behind it."I don't want to use four-letter words," was Lavrov's only response to reporters when asked whether Russia was responsible for the email hack, according to Reuters. <div id="cqrcPostAdditional"><strong><em>Get breaking news alerts and more from Roll Call <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/roll-call-news/id433753469?mt=8" target="_blank">on your iPhone</a> or your <a title="click to view in a new window/tab" href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.devaary.cqrc.rollcall.v01&amp;hl=en" target="_blank">Android</a>.</em></strong></div> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Get breaking news alerts and more from Roll Call on your iPhone or your Android.
