Russia draws Senate focus during hearing

Experts on national security painted a sinister picture for senators examining Russian meddling in the 2016 election, detailing the worldwide impact of fake news, smear campaigns and even killings they say could have ties to the Kremlin.

Clint Watts, a former FBI agent now with the Foreign Policy Research Institute Program on National Security, said the Senate intelligence committee should “follow the dead bodies.”

He said several Russians tied to the investigation into Kremlin disinformation activities have been killed in the past three months — not only in Russia, but in western countries as well.

Earlier Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin again dismissed what he called “endless and groundless” accusations of Russian meddling in the U.S. election, describing them as part of the U.S. domestic political struggle. He also said he is ready to meet with President Donald Trump at an upcoming arctic summit.

The hearing Thursday focused mostly on how experts say the Kremlin uses technology and disinformation to influence the opinions of Americans and not on the U.S. policy toward Russia.

Trump, throughout the campaign and since he’s been president, has expressed an interesting in improving relations with Russia. Watts said he fears for his own safety after speaking about Russian efforts.

“I’m a little bit lost as

to what our interests are or how they ’re coalescing,” Watts said. “My biggest concern right now is I don’t know what the American stance is on Russia.”

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the committee’s senior Democrat, talked about disinformation spread in the final weeks of the campaign through key states such as Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. One question he said he wants the committee’s investigation to answer is whether Russia would have the ability to do that without the assistance of someone with a deep knowledge of American politics.