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Bipartisan group of senators calls for probe of Russian role in 2016 US elections
(CNN)A
bipartisan quartet of high-profile senators said Sunday that "recent
reports of Russian interference in our election should alarm every
American," as President-elect Donald Trump sharpened his unprecedented
attacks on US intelligence agencies.
The
group -- two Republicans and two Democrats -- called for an
investigation into American intelligence agencies' conclusion that
Russian hacking was intended to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton.
"Congress's
national security committees have worked diligently to address the
complex challenge of cybersecurity, but recent events show that more
must be done," said Sens. Chuck Schumer, the incoming Senate Democratic
leader, Sen. John McCain, the Armed Services Committee chairman, fellow
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, and Sen. Jack Reed, the top Armed
Services Committee Democrat, in a Sunday morning statement.
"While
protecting classified material, we have an obligation to inform the
public about recent cyberattacks that have cut to the heart of our free
society. Democrats and Republicans must work together, and across the
jurisdictional lines of the Congress, to examine these recent incidents
thoroughly and devise comprehensive solutions to deter and defend
against further cyber-attacks."
The
letter is an implicit rebuke of Trump, who has questioned whether
Russia actually interfered with the election, including with hacks of
Democratic operatives. The President-elect on Sunday morning blasted the
intelligence community anew, calling its assessment that Russia
interfered in the election "ridiculous."
"I think it's just another excuse. I don't believe it," Trump said in an interview on "Fox News Sunday."
Two days earlier Trump sided with Russia over the CIA and attacked the US intelligence assessment of Russia's role.
"These
are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass
destruction," Trump's transition team said in a terse, unsigned
statement targeting the CIA on Friday.
"The
election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College
victories in history. It's now time to move on and 'Make America Great
Again.'" Trump won 306 electoral votes, a comfortable margin above the
270 necessary but in the lower percentage of presidential victories over
two centuries.
The transition
team's reference to the agency's most humiliating recent intelligence
misfire -- over its conclusion that Iraq under Saddam Hussein had
weapons of mass destruction -- threatens to cast an early cloud over
relations between the Trump White House and the CIA, whose assessments
he'll need to make monumental decisions.
The
top leadership of the agency that presided over the Iraq failure during
the Bush administration has long since been replaced. But the comments
from Trump's camp will cause concern in the Intelligence community about
the incoming President's attitude to America's spy agencies. CNN
reported last week that Trump is getting intelligence briefings only
once a week. Several previous presidents preparing for the inauguration
had a more intense briefing schedule.
The sharp pushback to revelations in The Washington Post, which followed an earlier CNN report on alleged Russian interference in the election, represented a startling rebuke from an incoming White House to the CIA.
Trump
has also been highly sensitive to any suggestion that he did not win
the election fair and square, including claiming that he is only
trailing Clinton in the popular vote because of a huge trove of illegal
votes -- a claim for which he has provided no evidence.
On Sunday Schumer said his requested probe should reach beyond Russia.
"The
goal is to find out how extensive it is, how deep this is, what
countries are doing this -- it won't be limited to just Russia and then
to come up with conclusions on how to stop it," Schumer told reporters
in New York City. "Our intel property in the government and some of our
most important companies that employ tens of thousands of people in good
paying jobs are hacked regularly. We have to look at all of this."
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