The Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday endorsed the findings of the intelligence community’s report on Russia’s 2016 election interference, and its findings that Russian President Vladimir Putin worked to aid President Donald Trump and hurt Hillary Clinton’s White House bid.
In a pair of statements following the meeting, the Republican and Democrat who lead the Senate Intelligence Committee say they have no reason to question the intelligence community’s January 2017 report and its conclusions, splitting with House Republicans’ recent report disputing the intelligence community’s conclusion that Putin favored Trump over Clinton.
“Committee staff have spent 14 months reviewing the sources, tradecraft, and analytic work, and we see no reason to dispute the conclusions,” Chairman Richard Burr said in a statement.
Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee released a report last month that found “no evidence” of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and also accused the intelligence community of not using “proper analytic tradecraft” in its judgment of Russia President Vladimir Putin’s “strategic objectives for disrupting the U.S. election.”
The Senate Intelligence Committee invited four former intelligence community leaders to testify in a closed-door classified hearing about the analysis compiled during the Obama administration, as part of its ongoing Russia investigation.
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan and former National Security Agency Director Admiral Mike Rogers appeared on Capitol Hill Wednesday for the classified hearing.
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