If Russia wants to cause confusion for U.S. voters, they've certainly accomplished that. Information about Russian interference in the 2020 election has been coming out piecemeal this week - and half of it was contradictory. Originally, officials were told that Russia is specifically aiding President Donald Trump. The President was told after the House Intelligence Committee had been briefed, something he strongly objected to. He believes that opposition will use this information against him unfairly.

Now, it seems as though the original information may have been overstated. The original reports will be described below, but several officials have since come forward calling some of the assertions "misleading". These officials claim that, while Russia is trying to interfere in U.S. elections and foster divisions amongst Americans, saying that they support one candidate or another would be an oversimplification if not outright false.

"The intelligence doesn't say that," one senior national security official told CNN. "A more reasonable interpretation of the intelligence is not that they have a preference, it's a step short of that. It's more that they understand the President is someone they can work with, he's a dealmaker."

Lawmakers were first briefed on Feb. 13 by Shelby Pierson, the intelligence community's coordinator for election security against foreign threats. The briefing covered election threats against the U.S. government and what the intelligence community is doing to detect and counter those efforts. Pierson, prompted by questions raised by the Congressmen, reported that Russian hackers were working to get the President re-elected.

This news reached the President via the ranking Republican on the Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes. Nunes has consistently shown himself to be an unwavering supporter of the President. The President was given his own briefing the following day by the intelligence community, members of the FBI, CIA, and DHS, as well as acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph McGuire.

Trump was very angry that he wasn't told first, and he said Democrats should not have been told at all. Despite the fact that the information originated with non-partisan intelligence community officials, the President has implied that the information regarding Russian interference was created by the Democrats.

"Another misinformation campaign is being launched by Democrats in Congress saying that Russia prefers me to any of the Do Nothing Democrat candidates who still have been unable to, after two weeks, count their votes in Iowa," Trump tweeted.

Unsurprisingly, the Kremlin has denied interfering in U.S. elections calling the reports "paranoid announcements," according to Reuters.

On Feb. 21, the Washington Post reported that U.S. officials had told the Bernie Sanders campaign that Russia is interfering in the election process to support Sanders' candidacy in the Democratic primaries. The Post also reported that the President and lawmakers had been briefed on Russia's support for Sanders primary bid.

Sanders has bluntly denounced Russia's actions. He has called for Russia to stop interfering in U.S. elections.

"Unlike Donald Trump, I do not consider [Russian President] Vladimir Putin a good friend. He is an autocratic thug... I don't care, frankly, who Putin wants to be president," Sanders said in a statement on Friday. "My message to Putin is clear: Stay out of American elections, and as president I will make sure that you do."

Trump has told reporters that he was never briefed on the matter and has implied that the information was in fact leaked by Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, someone Trump has made clear he considers an enemy.

"Somebody please tell incompetent (thanks for my high poll numbers) & corrupt politician Adam 'Shifty' Schiff to stop leaking Classified information or, even worse, made up information, to the Fake News Media. Someday he will be caught, & that will be a very unpleasant experience!" Trump tweeted. Schiff has denied the President's allegations tweeting "The only thing Americans despise more than foreign actors trying to affect the vote is a president unwilling to do anything to stop it."

Speaking of enemies, the President has spoken repeatedly about how much he would like to run against Sanders in the general election. This has often been accompanied by insinuations that there is a Democratic conspiracy to keep Sanders from becoming the nominee.

"I think so, unless they cheat him out of it. I think so. I think Bernie is looking more and more like he'll be the nominee, unless they cheat him out of it," Trump told reporters following the Nevada primary. "A lot of people thought he was going to be the nominee last time and that didn't work out. I think they're watching it very closely. I would imagine so."