Senate report backs intel findings on Russia

The Intelligence Community was correct in its assessment of Russian meddling in the lead-up to the 2016 elections, a bipartisan report released by the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday concluded.

The report, which is the fourth of an expected five volumes to emerge from the committee’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections, digs into the Intelligence Community’s Assessment (ICA) of Russian active measures used to sway the election.

The assessment, made public in early 2017 shortly before President Obama left office, concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin “ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election,” and that there was a “clear preference” for now-President Trump to win the election on the part of the Russians.

The committee concluded that the ICA “presents a coherent and well-constructed intelligence basis for the case of unprecedented Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election,” and that all analysts involved in compiling the ICA were under no pressure to come to a specific conclusion.

Steele Dossier addressed: The panel also concluded that information provided to analysts by Christopher Steele, a former MI6 agent who compiled opposition research against Trump, was not used to reach any conclusions in the ICA.

Lawmakers’ message: Committee leaders warned that Russian interference in the 2016 elections could easily happen again during the presidential elections later this year, an issue that government officials and experts have increasingly warned may be a problem.