Jan 5, 2017

Answers to our questions before Senate's Russia hearing

1) We know John McCain and Lindsey Graham had lots to say. Did anyone challenge the intel community?

No, for the most part. With the exception of a pair of critiques from McCain and Tom Cotton, the majority opinion among the committee was that the new trend of questioning the credibility of the intel community is unfair.

2) News on the hacks: Did we see new evidence from the intel community today?

No. Clapper revealed that the intelligence community will release an unclassified report next week, saying "our assessment now is even more resolute" that the Russians carried out the attack on the election.

3) Did the words "Donald Trump" come into the discussion?

Yes. Claire McCaskill asked "who benefits from a president-elect trashing the intelligence community?" Clapper said he's received "many expressions of concern" from foreign counterparts about those attacks.

What's next: President Obama is being briefed today on the full, classified report. Trump will get an identical briefing on Friday.

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Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Axios Visuals

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