Senate: Republican Intel chair says Russia probe won’t end any time soon

Senate: Republican Intel chair says Russia probe won’t end any time soon
Mark Warner (D-VA) and Richard Burr (R-NC; Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee) give a brief in Oct 2017. PBS, YouTube

By Henry Rodgers

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr said the panel’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election will be going well into 2019.

Burr said, in an interview with Bloomberg released Friday, he believes the committee’s Russia probe would easily take as long as “six months,” as the committee plans on interviewing a number of other witnesses. The committee will also need to gather all of its information it will declassify in order to release a final report.

Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?

Burr’s colleague on the committee, Democratic Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, has called for public hearings with the witnesses involved in the committee’s probe. However, Burr said he disagrees, saying he does not think it is necessary.

“I don’t see the need for public hearings,” Burr said in the interview. “I don’t see that happening.”

Warner has previously suggested that Americans are losing patience with the special counsel’s investigation of Trump campaign links to Russia. “I think the American public will be tired of it if this is not wound down in this calendar year,” he said in May during an interview at CodeCon 2018.

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign is still open, but he has reportedly started writing his report. (RELATED: Report: Mueller Has Started Writing His Report On Russia Probe)

The investigation started on May 17, 2017. The Senate Intelligence Committee has had its probe open since January 2017.

Follow Henry Rodgers On Twitter

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Comments

For your convenience, you may leave commments below using Disqus. If Disqus is not appearing for you, please disable AdBlock to leave a comment.