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© AFP 2016/ Mandel Ngan
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) requested access to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) servers that were breached prior to the 2016 US election, but was denied multiple times, FBI Director James Comey told the US Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday.

When asked, Comey said the FBI requested access to the DNC servers multiple times.

"We were not," Comey stated when asked if they were granted access. "A highly-respected private company eventually got access and shared with us what they found there."

The US Intelligence Community report claimed that Russia launched an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at undermining public faith in the US democratic process and creating a preference for President-elect Donald Trump.

Following the report's release, the DNC told BuzzFeed News that no US government entity had examined the servers and the FBI never requested access to them. US media later reported the FBI sought to examine the DNC servers, but was refused access.

Russia has repeatedly denied the US allegations calling them absurd and characterizing them as an attempt to divert public opinion from revelations of corruption as well as other pressing domestic issues.

After receiving an intelligence briefing on the US Intelligence Community's report, Trump said the election outcome had not been affected. US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan also suggested that the assessment should not be used by partisans to delegitimize Trump's presidency.