Senate committee backs intelligence agencies' findings that Russia meddled in 2016 election

WASHINGTON — The Senate Intelligence Committee reaffirmed its finding that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, backing the conclusions of intelligence agencies and undermining President Donald Trump's often-repeated claim that the investigation into his campaign was a politically motivated hoax.

The Republican-led committee on Tuesday released a heavily redacted report saying the intelligence community presented a "coherent and well-constructed" basis for Russia's interference in the 2016 election.

The intelligence community "makes a clear argument that the manner and aggressiveness of the Russian interference was historically unprecedented," according to the 158-page report, one of four the committee has released on the Russia investigation.

The bipartisan report also said that analysts who prepared the intelligence community's assessment of Russian interference "were under no politically-motivated pressure to reach specific conclusions."

Trump has long-sought to undermine the intelligence community's assessment of Russia's interference campaign and has moved to shake-up U.S. leadership at the agencies.

Earlier this month, Trump ousted Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for the intelligence community who alerted Congress to a whistleblower's complaint about the president's efforts to pressure Volodymyr Zelensky, president of Ukraine, to open an investigation into Democratic political rival Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.

Trump's contact with the Ukrainian president were at the center of the congressional inquiry that led to his impeachment earlier this year. He was ultimately acquitted by the Senate.

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In the Senate review, Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., said the intelligence assessment represented "strong trade-craft, sound analytical reasoning."

“The committee found no reason to dispute the Intelligence Community’s conclusions," Burr said in a statement.

Burr said Russian interference "should be considered the new normal" as agents of the Kremlin have spawned imitators who are increasingly seeking to "sow societal chaos and discord."

"With the 2020 presidential election approaching, it’s more important than ever that we remain vigilant against the threat of interference from hostile foreign actors," the chairman said.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the committee's vice chairman, said there was no disputing the conclusion that the Russians worked to "hurt Secretary Clinton and help the candidacy of Donald Trump," referring to the 2016 campaign and Democratic nomineee Hillary Clinton.

"There is certainly no reason to doubt that the Russians’ success in 2016 is leading them to try again in 2020, and we must not be caught unprepared," Warner said.

The Senate report also concluded that the Kremlin campaign was directed from the highest levels of the Russian government.

"The committee found that specific intelligence as well as open source assessments support...that President Putin approved and directed aspects of this influence campaign," the report stated, adding that Moscow sought "to denigrate then-candidate Clinton."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Senate Intel Committee backs finding that Russia helped Trump win