Senate Intel concludes Russia interfered in 2016 presidential election, preferred Trump over Clinton

The Senate Intelligence Committee released its summary of its review of the U.S. intelligence community's January 2017 assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

In a press release, the panel, led by Sens. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Mark Warner, D-Va., said that the judgments in the intelligence community’s assessment “were well-supported and the tradecraft was strong.”

The Senate Intelligence Committee has been reviewing the assessment for 16 months, and Burr, the panel's chairman, said it “sees no reason to dispute the conclusions.”

The panel said it supports the assessment that Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election “represent the most recent expression of Moscow’s longstanding desire to undermine the U.S.-led liberal democratic order, but these activities demonstrated a significant escalation in directness, level of activity, and scope of effort compared to previous operations.”

Further, the Senate intelligence panel said it agrees with the finding that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the interference campaign, with the goals of “undermining public faith in the U.S. democratic process,” as well as “denigrate” Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

“[T]he IC’s [assessment] provided a range of all-source reporting to support these assessments,” said the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The intelligence community was also correct when it said Putin and his government “aspired to help” Republican nominee Donald Trump, who went on to beat Clinton, said the Senate Intelligence Committee.

“As numerous intelligence and national security officials in the Trump administration have since unanimously re-affirmed, the ICA findings were accurate and on point. 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,” said Warner, adding that the investigation is still ongoing.

The committee’s report also says that "further details have come to light that bolster the assessment” that Russian interference in 2016 "demonstrated a significant escalation in directness, level of activity, and scope of effort compared to previous operations."

The Senate Intelligence Committee’s report stands in stark contrast the House Intelligence Committee’s report on the intelligence community’s assessment.

That committee, led by Rep. Devin Nunes, concluded its investigation earlier this year and said that Russia did interfere in 2016 and intended to sow chaos — but did not specifically aim to help Trump against Clinton.