The "Russia hacked the US election" is getting its second wind.
One day after Reuters provided further details of the ongoing FBI probes - of which there are now reportedly three - into activities that are generally classified as the Kremlin's hacking of the US presidential election, the Senate Intelligence Committee has likewise escalated its probe into Russian interference, and is requesting that agencies preserve all materials that could tie into the committee's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
The Associated Press reported Sunday, citing a congressional aide, that the committee had sent formal requests to more than a dozen organizations, agencies and individuals, including at the White House, requesting the materials related to the probe into the Russian meddling be preserved. The intelligence panel's chairman, Richard Burr (R-N.C.), and vice chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) sent letters out Friday, according to the AP.
Richard Burr
On Thursday, Senate Democrats wrote the White House and law enforcement agencies seeking assurances that they were preserving all materials related to contacts individuals associated with President Donald Trump had with Russians. Those letters asked for confirmation that the White House, FBI and Justice Department had instructed their employees to preserve all materials related to any contacts Trump's administration, campaign, transition team — or anyone acting on their behalf — have had with Russian government officials or its associates.
"I think they're going to do their job. And they have to do that. Those are things that Richard Burr and that team have to do," White House chief of staff Reince Priebus said Sunday, a day after the disclosure by the congressional aide.
"That doesn't mean that there's anything there. It just means they need to do some things that satisfy their committee, that they've looked into something. And then they can have meetings behind closed doors that they always do in the Intel Committee, and then they'll issue a report," Priebus told NBC's "Meet the Press."
Also on Sunday, Priebus denied that members of President Trump's campaign had contact with Russia before Trump's victory.
“We don’t know of any contacts with Russian agents,” Priebus said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, one of three appearances on Sunday political shows by the White House chief of staff.
"The New York Times last week put out an article with no direct sources that said that the Trump campaign had constant contacts with Russian spies," Priebus also said on Fox News Sunday. "I can assure you, and I've been approved to say this, that the top levels of the intelligence community have assured me that that story is not only inaccurate but it's grossly overstated."
Last Friday, FBI Director James Comey on Friday met with lawmakers from the Senate Intelligence Committee behind closed doors, amid ongoing rumors of alleged contacts between members of President Trump's campaign and Russian officials. The committee members and Comey spent nearly three hours Friday afternoon in a secure room in the Senate basement used for classified briefings. Lawmakers refused to comment upon existing the meeting. Burr called the meeting "just a normal classified briefing."
The committee is investigating Russian interference in the U.S. election, including probing any contact between campaign officials and Russia.