After hearing from former National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers, former CIA Director John Brennan, and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper Wednesday morning, Senate Intelligence Committee leaders announced their agreement with the January 6, 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment of Russian election interference.
CNN:
"There is no doubt that Russia undertook an unprecedented effort to interfere with our 2016 election," Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, said in a statement. "Committee staff have spent 14 months reviewing the sources, tradecraft, and analytic work, and we see no reason to dispute the conclusions."
The top Democrat on the committee, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, said that "after a thorough review, our staff concluded that the ICA conclusions were accurate and on point. The Russian effort was extensive, sophisticated and ordered by President Putin himself for the purpose of helping Donald Trump and hurting Hilary Clinton."
In order to protect our democracy from future threats, we must understand what happened in 2016. And while our Committee’s investigation remains ongoing, one thing is already abundantly clear – we have to do a better job in the future if we want to protect our elections from foreign interference.”
The Senate committee's conclusion stands in stark contrast with that of House Intelligence Committee Republicans who said, after prematurely ending their committee's Russia probe, they did not believe Putin was trying to help Trump.
CNN:
The House Republican report alleges there were "significant intelligence tradecraft failings" in that assessment from the intelligence community, which they argue "undermine confidence" in the conclusions about Putin's objectives in the 2016 election. The Republicans argued that the draft of the assessment on that point was "subjected to an unusually constrained review and coordination process."
Full story: Senate committee agrees with intelligence community assessment of election meddling, breaking with GOP House investigation (CNN)
Senate Intel Completes Review of Intelligence Community Assessment on Russian Activities in the 2016 U.S. Elections (press release)