WASHINGTON ― Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has demanded a congressional investigation into Russia’s involvement in the 2016 presidential election.
The incoming Senate minority leader believes it’s necessary after The Washington Post reported on Friday that the CIA had concluded that the country had worked to help Donald Trump win the presidency.
In a secret assessment, the CIA reportedly concluded that Russia wasn’t only working to undermine confidence in the election, but working to help Trump.
“Reports of the CIA’s conclusion that Russia actively sought to help elect Donald Trump are simultaneously stunning and not surprising, given Russia’s disdain for democracy and admiration for autocracy. The silence from Wikileaks and others since election day has been deafening. That any country could be meddling in our elections should shake both political parties to their core,” Schumer said in a statement. “Senate Democrats will join with our Republican colleagues next year to demand a congressional investigation and hearings to get to the bottom of this. It’s imperative that our intelligence community turns over any relevant information so that Congress can conduct a full investigation.”
President Barack Obama has ordered a review of Russia’s influence in the election before he leaves office. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has already pledged to work with Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, to investigate Russia’s influence in the election. And Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has vowed to go “after Russia in every way you can go after Russia.”
“I think they’re one of the most destabilizing influences on the world stage. I think they did interfere with our elections, and I want [Russian President Vladimir] Putin personally to pay the price,” he told the Post.
In October, the Intelligence Community announced that it believed Russia was behind email hacks of the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta, a top aide to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Despite that conclusion, Trump has said he doesn’t think Russia is behind the hacks.
“I don’t believe they interfered. That became a laughing point, not a talking point, a laughing point. Any time I do something, they say ‘oh, Russia interfered,’” he told Time magazine. “It could be Russia. And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey.”
“I believe that it could have been Russia and it could have been any one of many other people,” he added. “Sources or even individuals.”
But not all Republicans are expressing outrage over Russia’s alleged involvement. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) reportedly was skeptical of the intelligence showing Russia’s involvement in the election and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said it was no big deal.
All this “news” of Russian hacking: it has been going on for years. Serious, but hardly news
— JohnCornyn (@JohnCornyn) December 10, 2016
Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the outgoing Senate Democratic leader, raised concerns publicly earlier this year that the FBI was withholding information about ties between Russia and Trump’s campaign. After the Post’s report on Friday, Reid took a parting shot at FBI Director James Comey in an interview with Bloomberg’s Steven Dennis.
“I was right. Comey was wrong. I hope he can look in the mirror and see what he did to this country,” he said.