Former FBI Director James Comey testified Thursday that there is no doubt among American intelligence officials that Russia sought to influence the 2016 presidential election.
“There should be no fuzz on this whatsoever,” Comey said during his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee. “The Russians interfered in our election in the 2016 cycle. They did it with purpose, they did it with sophistication, they did it with overwhelming technical efforts, and it was an active measures campaign driven from the top of that government.”
Comey said that “it is a high-confidence judgment of the entire intelligence community.”
“It’s not a close call. That happened. That’s about as un-fake as you can possibly get,” he said.
Comey said it is “refreshing” to see a bipartisan investigation into Russia’s actions, which he described as an attack on America, not a political party.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has routinely denied his country’s effort to interfere in the election. During a panel discussion moderated by NBC News’ Megyn Kelly last week, Putin argued that the accusations are merely an excuse used by former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her allies to explain her loss.
Earlier in the hearing, Comey also said that he personally has no doubts Russia sought to influence the election.
“There should be no fuzz on that,” Comey says of Russia investigation
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— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 8, 2017
