The Senate Intelligence Committee announced that it is launching an inquiry into the alleged Russian hacks to influence the US election, during which they plan to interview senior members of the incoming Trump administration.
In a joint statement, committee chairman Republican Sen Richard Burr and vice chairman Democratic Sen Mark Warner said they would examine “counterintelligence concerns related to Russia and the 2016 US election, including intelligence regarding links between Russia and individuals associated with political campaigns.
President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly lambasted the intelligence community since the December revelation that the Russian government was behind hacks against Democrats with the intention to help Mr Trump win.
Mr Trump has admitted that Russian President Vladimir Putin is the likely culprit behind the hacks of the Democratic National Committee. Still, he has doubled-down on his plans to continue to foster a relationship with the Kremlin as president despite the intelligence assessment that they conducted the cyber attack on the US.
In the statement released Friday evening, Mr Burr said the committee would subpoena members of the Trump team and the Obama administration “if necessary”.
“As part of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s oversight responsibilities,” the statement said, “we believe that it is crucial to have a full understanding of the scope of Russian intelligence activities impacting the United States.”
Mr Warner said in a separate statement that the “issue impacts the foundations of our democratic system, it’s that important.”
He added that the committee is “best positioned to take on” the responsibility of “full, deep bipartisan examination”.
“If it turns out that SSCI cannot properly conduct this investigation,” he added, “I will support legislation to empower whoever can do it right.”
No comments:
Post a Comment