Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr and Vice Chair Mark Warner say they trust the conclusions of intelligence agencies.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty ImagesA Senate committee on Wednesday backed US intelligence agencies and their findings that Russia interfered with the 2016 US presidential election in an effort to elect then-candidate Donald Trump.
"Committee staff have spent 14 months reviewing the sources, tradecraft, and analytic work, and we see no reason to dispute the conclusions," Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, a Republican, said in a statement.
Vice Chairman @MarkWarner and I released the following statements regarding today's Senate Intelligence Committee closed hearing to complete its review of the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) on “Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections”: pic.twitter.com/AK6vgim8Ly
— Richard Burr (@SenatorBurr) May 16, 2018
The Senate committee's findings clash with a report last month from Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee that found "no evidence" of Trump campaign collusion. That report maintained that Russia's aim wasn't to boost Trump's chances of winning, but rather to undermine free elections and spread discord in the US.
Wednesday's statement on the Senate committee's conclusions also included remarks from Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia who serves as the committee's vice chair. Warner echoed Burr.
"After a thorough review, our staff concluded that the ICA [Intelligence Community Assessment] conclusions were accurate and on point," Warner said. "The Russian effort was extensive, sophisticated, and ordered by President Putin himself for the purpose of helping Donald Trump and hurting Hillary Clinton."
Burr and Warner held a closed hearing on Wednesday to wrap up a review of the ICA on Russian activities during the election, following a hearing the committee held in January 2017. The staff will finish this portion of the report on the intelligence community's work before submitting it for a classification review, according to the statement.
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