Heinrich Releases Additional Views On New Senate Intelligence Report On Russian Interference In 2016 Presidential Election
Senators warn of Russia’s ongoing and active interference in the 2020 elections
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, released Additional Views on the fifth and final volume of the Committee’s bipartisan Russia investigation titled, “Volume V: Counterintelligence Threats and Vulnerabilities.”
Heinrich, along with Committee members U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), attached to the report their Additional Views, which provide conclusions and context regarding the Trump campaign’s cooperation with and welcoming of Russian efforts to help elect President Trump. The senators’ views highlight key efforts by President Trump and his associates to enable the Russian interference operation in 2016, and call out Russia’s ongoing and active interference in the 2020 elections.
“These are stubborn facts that cannot be ignored. They build on the Committee's bipartisan findings in Volume 2 and Volume 4 that show an extensive Kremlin-directed effort to covertly help candidate Trump in 2016, and they speak to a willingness by a major party candidate and his associates, in the face of a foreign adversary's assault on the political integrity of the United States, to welcome that foreign threat in exchange for advancing their own self-interest,” the senators stated.
“The value of the Committee's investigation is not purely historical. The counterintelligence lessons contained in this report regarding what happened to the United States in 2016 should be an alarm bell for the nation, and for those preparing to defend the nation against current and evolving threats targeting the upcoming U.S. elections. Indeed, Russia is actively interfering again in the 2020 U.S. election to assist Donald Trump, and some of the President's associates are amplifying those efforts. It is vitally important that the country be ready,” continued the senators.
On August 4, the Intelligence Committee voted unanimously to approve the final volume of the Committee’s bipartisan Russia investigation. The Additional Views were released as part of the report today and can be found on page 943 available as a PDF here.
A complete list of the five volumes of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s bipartisan Russia investigation is below:
- “Volume I: Russian Efforts Against Election Infrastructure”
- “Volume II: Russia’s Use of Social Media”
- “Volume III: U.S. Government Response to Russian Activities”
- “Volume IV: Review of the Intelligence Community Assessment”
- Additional declassifications of “Volume IV: Review of Intelligence Community Assessment”
