{"id":31259,"date":"2020-04-22T13:50:37","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T13:50:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/04\/22\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:54:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:54:42","slug":"senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2020\/04\/22\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate panel backs assessment that Russia interfered in 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 A bipartisan Senate report released Tuesday affirms the U.S. intelligence community\u2019s conclusions that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election in a far-ranging influence campaign approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin and aimed at helping Donald Trump win the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report rejects Trump\u2019s claims that the intelligence community was biased against him when it concluded that Russia had interfered on his behalf in the election. It says instead that intelligence officials had specific information that Russia preferred<\/a> Trump in the election, that it sought to denigrate Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton and that Putin had \u201capproved and directed aspects” of the Kremlin\u2019s influence campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The heavily-redacted report from the Senate Intelligence Committee is part of the panel\u2019s more than three-year investigation into Russian interference. Intelligence agencies concluded in January 2017 that Russians had engaged in cyber-espionage and distributed messages through Russian-controlled propaganda outlets to undermine public faith in the democratic process, hurt Clinton and aid Trump, who ultimately became president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump has repeatedly questioned the assessment, which was also endorsed by former special counsel Robert Mueller in his report last year. Mueller concluded that Russian interference was \u201csweeping and systematic,\u201d but he did not allege a criminal conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., said in a statement that his panel \u201cfound no reason to dispute\u201d the intelligence community\u2019s conclusions, saying they reflected strong tradecraft and analytical reasoning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the agencies\u2019 conclusion that such election interference is \u201cthe new normal\u201d has been borne out in the three years since it was published.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith the 2020 presidential election<\/a> approaching, it\u2019s more important than ever that we remain vigilant against the threat of interference from hostile foreign actors,\u201d Burr said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Senate report calls the agencies’ assessment an “impressive accomplishment\u201d and endorses its core conclusions that Russia had interfered on a grand scale in the election and that Putin directed the interference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Committee found that specific intelligence as well as open source assessments support the assessment that President Putin approved and directed aspects of this influence campaign,\u201d the Senate report states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The panel said it found that the intelligence community had presented sufficient information to support its conclusion that Russia had developed a preference for Trump over Clinton in the election. The report says intelligence officials “consistently” told the committee in interviews that they were under no political pressure to reach their conclusions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Senate investigation also delved into an internal debate at the time about how and whether to incorporate into the intelligence community assessment details from a dossier of research from a former British spy, Christopher Steele, that the FBI relied on as it sought warrants to eavesdrop on a former Trump campaign aide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials eventually decided to include the information as a two-page annex to the most classified version of the assessment. The Senate says the information from Steele was not used in the body of the assessment or to \u201csupport any of its analytic judgments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former FBI Director James Comey said in response to questioning from Burr: \u201cI insisted that we bring it to the party, and I was agnostic as to whether it was footnoted in the document itself, put as an annex.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FBI officials told the Senate committee in interviews that they \u201cwould have had a major problem if Annex A had not been included,\u201d according to the report. The FBI, the report says, believed they \u201chad to put everything in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dossier has come under additional scrutiny within the last week, as newly declassified footnotes from a Justice Department inspector general report raise the prospect that Russian disinformation made its way into the research files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While largely praising the assessment, the Senate report does say it could have done a better job of looking at previous election interference. It says the agencies presented a clear argument that such meddling was unprecedented, but did not adequately analyze interference from the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, as it says former President Barack Obama had asked them to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The committee\u2019s top Democrat, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, said in a statement that the agencies’ assessment represents \u201cthe kind of unbiased and professional work we expect and require from the intelligence community.” Warner said the country should not be caught unprepared again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another Democrat on the panel, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, added his own, more blunt, comments in a statement at the end of the report. He said the committee\u2019s work makes clear the intelligence community\u2019s findings on Russian interference are \u201cnot a \u2018hoax\u2019\u201d just because Putin denies it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRussian interference in the 2016 election is a fact, and Donald Trump\u2019s deference to Putin only serves to further Russian disinformation and undermine efforts to defend the United States against ongoing attacks,\u201d Wyden wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final report comes almost two years after the panel first released its findings agreeing with the intelligence community\u2019s 2017 conclusions. Its release was delayed as intelligence agencies reviewed it for declassification, and much of it remains redacted. To write the report, the committee reviewed thousands of pages of documents and conducted interviews with intelligence officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the fourth of five reports the Senate panel will release on the subject. Previous investigations reviewed Russian efforts to breach state election systems and manipulate social media, and made recommendations to prevent more interference in the future. Another examined the mistakes of the Obama administration as Russia interfered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The committee\u2019s fifth, and final, report will examine counterintelligence findings, including whether Trump\u2019s campaign conspired with Russia. It\u2019s unclear when that will be released.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the fourth of five reports the Senate panel will release on the subject.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":31876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[8,160,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1310,1300],"class_list":["post-31259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"DSQBMBT53ZFWHONKQPYZ3VJGII","arc_canonical_url":"\/federal-oversight\/congress\/2020\/04\/22\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\nSenate panel backs assessment that Russia interfered in 2016 - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is the fourth of five reports the Senate panel will release on the subject.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/congress\/2020\/04\/22\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Senate panel backs assessment that Russia interfered in 2016\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is the fourth of five reports the Senate panel will release on the subject.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2020\/04\/22\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-22T13:50:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T04:54:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mary Clare Jalonick, The Associated Press, Eric Tucker, The Associated Press\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mary Clare Jalonick, The Associated Press, Eric Tucker, The Associated Press\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t \"@graph\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/22\\\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\\\/#article\",\n\t \"isPartOf\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/22\\\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\\\/\"\n\t },\n\t \"author\": {\n\t \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t },\n\t \"headline\": \"Senate panel backs assessment that Russia interfered in 2016\",\n\t \"datePublished\": \"2020-04-22T13:50:37+00:00\",\n\t \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T04:54:42+00:00\",\n\t \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/22\\\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\\\/\"\n\t },\n\t \"wordCount\": 942,\n\t \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t \"publisher\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t },\n\t \"image\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/22\\\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t },\n\t \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/AP18351519872094.jpg.jpg\",\n\t \"articleSection\": [\n\t \"Congress\",\n\t \"Daily News Roundup\",\n\t \"Newsletters\"\n\t ],\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"potentialAction\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t \"target\": [\n\t \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/22\\\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\\\/#respond\"\n\t ]\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/22\\\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\\\/\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/22\\\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\\\/\",\n\t \"name\": \"Senate panel backs assessment that Russia interfered in 2016 - Defense News\",\n\t \"isPartOf\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\"\n\t },\n\t \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/22\\\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t },\n\t \"image\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/22\\\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t },\n\t \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/AP18351519872094.jpg.jpg\",\n\t \"datePublished\": \"2020-04-22T13:50:37+00:00\",\n\t \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T04:54:42+00:00\",\n\t \"description\": \"This is the fourth of five reports the Senate panel will release on the subject.\",\n\t \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/22\\\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\\\/#breadcrumb\"\n\t },\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"potentialAction\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t \"target\": [\n\t \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/22\\\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\\\/\"\n\t ]\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/22\\\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\\\/#primaryimage\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/AP18351519872094.jpg.jpg\",\n\t \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/AP18351519872094.jpg.jpg\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/22\\\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\\\/#breadcrumb\",\n\t \"itemListElement\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t \"position\": 1,\n\t \"name\": \"Home\",\n\t \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t \"ad_zone\": \"home\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t \"position\": 2,\n\t \"name\": \"Congress\",\n\t \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/\",\n\t \"ad_zone\": \"congress\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t \"position\": 3,\n\t \"name\": \"Senate panel backs assessment that Russia interfered in 2016\"\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t \"name\": \"Defense News\",\n\t \"description\": \"Covering the politics, business and technology of defense | Defense News\",\n\t \"publisher\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t },\n\t \"potentialAction\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t \"target\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t },\n\t \"query-input\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t }\n\t }\n\t ],\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\",\n\t \"name\": \"Defense News\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t \"logo\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/defensenews-logo-white.png\",\n\t \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/defensenews-logo-white.png\",\n\t \"caption\": \"Defense News\"\n\t },\n\t \"image\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"\n\t }\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\",\n\t \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t \"image\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t \"caption\": \"migration\"\n\t },\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/author\\\/migration\\\/\"\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Senate panel backs assessment that Russia interfered in 2016 - Defense News","description":"This is the fourth of five reports the Senate panel will release on the subject.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/congress\/2020\/04\/22\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Senate panel backs assessment that Russia interfered in 2016","og_description":"This is the fourth of five reports the Senate panel will release on the subject.","og_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2020\/04\/22\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\/","og_site_name":"Defense News","article_published_time":"2020-04-22T13:50:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-08T04:54:42+00:00","author":"Mary Clare Jalonick, The Associated Press, Eric Tucker, The Associated Press","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mary Clare Jalonick, The Associated Press, Eric Tucker, The Associated Press","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2020\/04\/22\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2020\/04\/22\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\/"},"author":{"name":"migration","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1"},"headline":"Senate panel backs assessment that Russia interfered in 2016","datePublished":"2020-04-22T13:50:37+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-08T04:54:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2020\/04\/22\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\/"},"wordCount":942,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2020\/04\/22\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18351519872094.jpg.jpg","articleSection":["Congress","Daily News Roundup","Newsletters"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2020\/04\/22\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2020\/04\/22\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2020\/04\/22\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\/","name":"Senate panel backs assessment that Russia interfered in 2016 - Defense News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2020\/04\/22\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2020\/04\/22\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18351519872094.jpg.jpg","datePublished":"2020-04-22T13:50:37+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-08T04:54:42+00:00","description":"This is the fourth of five reports the Senate panel will release on the subject.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2020\/04\/22\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2020\/04\/22\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2020\/04\/22\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18351519872094.jpg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18351519872094.jpg.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2020\/04\/22\/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-2016\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","ad_zone":"home"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Congress","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/","ad_zone":"congress"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Senate panel backs assessment that Russia interfered in 2016"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","name":"Defense News","description":"Covering the politics, business and technology of defense | Defense News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization","name":"Defense News","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/defensenews-logo-white.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/defensenews-logo-white.png","caption":"Defense News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1","name":"migration","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"migration"},"url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/author\/migration\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18351519872094.jpg.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Defense News","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31259"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31260,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31259\/revisions\/31260"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31259"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=31259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}