Senators to largely endorse intel report on Russian meddling, sound alarm

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Senate Intelligence Committee leaders are expected on Wednesday to largely endorse the intelligence community’s findings that Russia sought to sway the 2016 U.S. elections through a hacking and influence campaign as they sound the alarm that states preparing for the coming election season must be vigilant against similar threats.

The planned news conference from Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) has been billed as a forum for the two panel leaders to give the public an interim status update on the committee’s long-running investigation of allegations Russia attempted to meddle in the 2016 U.S. elections, and members of the Trump campaign may have colluded with Kremlin officials to improve their chance of victory. It is one of only a handful of public events the Senate Intelligence Committee has held in the nine months since commencing its probe.

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The intelligence committee has had unprecedented access to classified files during the course of this investigation, and has spent significantly longer vetting the intelligence community’s report than officials took to write it. Though Burr has set an aspirational deadline of wrapping up its probe by the end of the year, he and Warner are not expected to release an interim report on Wednesday, according to sources familiar with their plans.

There is a sense among committee officials the panel cannot wait until its probe is fully done to impress upon the public Russia can and probably will act again.

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