President Donald Trump's nominee to be director of national intelligence pledged at his confirmation hearing Tuesday to deliver intelligence free of bias, prejudice or political influence and said he believed that Russia had interfered in the most recent presidential election and could try to do so again.

The comments from Rep. John Ratcliffe, a Texas Republican, were aimed at quelling Democratic concerns that the Trump loyalist could be swayed by political pressure from a president routinely dismissive of intelligence community findings he disagrees with.

Let me be very clear: regardless of what anyone wants our intelligence to reflect, the intelligence I will provide, if confirmed, will not be impacted or altered as a result of outside pressure," he told the Senate intelligence committee. Ratcliffe also pledged that he would be laser-focused" as intelligence director in investigating the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, a task of key concern to

Trump and other administration officials, who have publicly raised the idea that it could have emerged from a lab in China. Intelligence agencies say they're investigating.

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