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Russian interference continued beyond January 2017, when the intelligence community issued its assessment (ICA), according to the Senate Intelligence Committee’s second unclassified report on Russian election activities, published Tuesday.
One big thing: The committee also reaffirmed its support for the intelligence community's findings, stating that the report's conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election with a clear "preference" for then-candidate Donald Trump is "supported by the evidence.”
Other key findings from the Committee's report:
- The Steele dossier, which gained notoriety for its salacious allegations about Trump, “remained separate from the conclusions of the ICA," according to the committee. It also said that all of the individuals they interviewed verified that the dossier did not influence the intel community's analysis.
- The committee's analysis found a "far more extensive Russian effort" to manipulate social media outlets and interfere in the 2016 election than the intel community found.
- Those who drafted and prepared the ICA were “under no politically motivated pressure to reach any conclusions," according to the report.
- The differing levels of confidence in different agencies' assessments “appropriately represents analytic differences and was reached in a professional and transparent manner.”
What they’re saying:
- Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr (R): “The Committee has spent the last 16 months reviewing the sources, tradecraft and analytic work underpinning the Intelligence Community Assessment and sees no reason to dispute the conclusions.”
- Vice Chairman Sen. Mark Warner (D): “The Russian effort was extensive and sophisticated, and its goals were to undermine public faith in the democratic process, to hurt Secretary Clinton and to help Donald Trump.”