Michael McFaul, in a recent interview, remarked that Vladimir Putin "sought revenge against Secretary Clinton."

The Washington Post recently reported that the CIA has determined that Russia intervened in the 2016 presidential election in order to help Donald Trump win.
Michael McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia, was interviewed on NBC's 'Meet the Press' on Sunday and he shared his thoughts on what may have been Russia's motivation to pursue such actions.
McFaul said, "...I think it's two things. One is revenge against Secretary Clinton. Let's remember that Vladimir Putin thinks that she intervened in his election, the parliamentary election in December 2011, and has said as much publicly. And I've heard him talk about it privately. "
He continued, "Number two, President-elect Trump supports a lot of foreign policy positions that Vladimir Putin supports...And so it's very rational, in my view, that he would rather see President-elect Trump be the next President of the United States instead of Secretary Clinton."
The Washington Post reported on Friday, "Intelligence agencies have identified individuals with connections to the Russian government who provided WikiLeaks with thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and others, including Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, according to U.S. officials. Those officials described the individuals as actors known to the intelligence community and part of a wider Russian operation to boost Trump and hurt Clinton’s chances."
In response to the CIA findings, Trump told Chris Wallace of 'Fox News Sunday,' "I think it's ridiculous...It's just another excuse. I don't believe it...Every week it's another excuse. We had a massive landslide victory, as you know, in the Electoral College.”