Senate seeks bipartisan Russian meddling report

Lawmakers to delay statement on collusion

WASHINGTON — With no firm conclusions yet on whether President Donald Trump’s campaign may have coordinated with Russia, the Senate intelligence committee could delay answering that question and issue more bipartisan recommendations early next year on protecting future elections from foreign tampering.

Recommendations on how to counter the threat from attempted election hackers could be the first written product from congressional committees examining Russian interference into the 2016 election that put Trump in the White House. An early bipartisan report could be an attempt to boost confidence in the panel’s probe, as lawmakers worry that other issues could be lost if they are not able to agree on the most anticipated questions like collusion.

There has been concern from both Democrats and Republicans that if members can’t agree, the final reports will be dismissed by an already skeptical, partisan public.

“The more bipartisan it is, the more it will be believed,” said Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the intelligence committee, of a final report.

Warner has worked closely with the committee’s Republican chairman, Richard Burr of North Carolina, who said in an interview Wednesday that he is considering the early report, which could also include other areas of consensus among senators. A final report addressing collusion would come later in the year.

Despite hesitation from Trump on the issue, most members of Congress agree with U.S. intelligence assessments that the Russians interfered. There also is consensus on the need to tighten voting security after the Department of Homeland Security notified several states of attempts to hack their systems. Next year’s congressional primaries begin in early spring.

“We would have an additional report, if not more,” Burr said. “But I think it’s reasonable to believe we could take everything that we have concluded, election security recommendations being one of them, why wouldn’t we finish those and push them out the door?”

Warner agreed, saying “the idea of trying to get recommendations out early in the new year around elections, where I think there is very broad consensus, makes a lot of sense.”

While members of both the House and Senate intelligence committees have repeatedly said they hope final reports are bipartisan, it’s unlikely that all members of either committee will agree that collusion did or did not occur. Burr and Warner said in October that the question was still open.