Sen. Mark Warner couldn’t believe what his Republican counterpart on the Senate Intelligence Committee had just done.

With no advance notice, Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) declared to reporters that his panel wouldn’t look into possible collusion between Donald Trump’s campaign and Moscow as part of its investigation of Russian interference in the election. So Warner , a Virginia Democrat who is the panel’s ranking member, promptly enlisted every Democrat on the committee to oppose Burr’s move and presumably boycott the investigation if he didn't reverse himself, according to congressional sources.


Barely 24 hours later, Burr issued a lengthy statement backtracking on his own comments. The committee would indeed examine “links between Russia and individuals associated with political campaigns” as part of its larger election-hacking probe, Burr wrote in a joint statement with Warner.

The implicit boycott threat, described by three sources with knowledge of the behind-the-scenes effort, illustrates the uneasy partnership between Burr and Warner as their committee assumes one of the toughest assignments in Washington. The two are seeking to maintain a bipartisan spirit on a committee now tasked with getting to the bottom of the biggest question hanging over Trump as he prepares to take the oath of office — whether his campaign coordinated with Russia.

“The entire reason Democrats were willing to let [the Intelligence Committee] take the lead on this was the assumption that investigating ties to Russia would be part of the investigation,” said a senior Senate Democratic aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “Had [Burr] not followed through on that, it would have been clear his committee effort was a sham and he would have lost bipartisan support.”

The intelligence community’s assessment that Russia sought to sway the presidential election has led to bipartisan calls in Congress for a select committee or independent commission to investigate the issue. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has so far rejected those calls, though, instead pressing for a piecemeal approach that keeps the investigation tightly within his control. He has tasked individual Senate committees with carrying out separate investigations within the confines of their jurisdictions.

The highest-profile of these is the Senate Intelligence Committee’s probe, led by Burr.

And while several Democrats on Burr’s panel said they back the committee’s investigation, the North Carolina Republican’s remarks last week have left them feeling they are going to have to keep close tabs on the direction of the probe to ensure it is thorough.

“The proof is in the pudding, and we'll see how this goes,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who is pushing a bill with Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) to create an independent commission to investigate Russia’s meddling.

“The advantage of doing it this way is that we get it done,” Feinstein explained after a Senate Democratic luncheon Wednesday at which sources said the issue came up. “I'm on the Cardin resolution to have the outside, 9/11-type committee. But, that ’ s going to be a fight, and time ’ s going to go by and evidence is going to get cold.”

Last Thursday, following a closed-door briefing from intelligence leaders, Burr was asked whether his probe would look into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, after BuzzFeed News published a “dossier” containing unsubstantiated allegations of collusion. Burr said such questions were outside his committee’s jurisdiction.

“We don't have anything to do with political campaigns,” he said then. “We don't have any authority to go to any campaign and request information that one would need to do an investigation.”

While it’s unclear whether Burr’s remarks were planned or off-the-cuff, the decision to not include that aspect in the inquiry was news to Warner and other Senate Democrats, said a congressional source.

Warner, a former tech executive and a co-founder of the Senate Cybersecurity Caucus, isn’t known in the chamber for having a short temper, but reading Burr’s comments in the news media — without notice — rankled him, the source said.

The Virginia lawmaker started working the phones that night and into Friday. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) agreed to back Warner’s implied threat.

Warner “threatened to walk,” said the congressional source. “So would have all the Democrats on the committee.”

Burr declined this week to comment on the issue, and his office did not respond to requests for comment. Warner, who has placed a premium on making the Russia inquiry bipartisan, declined to discuss the behind-the-scenes dealings but said he thinks he got “a good agreement to go forward.”

“We need to do this thoroughly, expeditiously, wherever the intelligence leads us,” he said.

The wrangling was hinted at over the weekend when Feinstein and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), another Intelligence Committee member, appeared on Sunday talk shows.

“I spoke yesterday twice with Sen . Warner, who is our new vice chairman. And he reviewed with me the terms of this agreement,” said Feinstein, who worked alongside Burr as the Intelligence Committee’s ranking member until last month.

“This investigation has to be full and robust. If it isn’t, both of us will go toward an outside panel,” she added on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“But we cannot ignore what has happened. To ignore it really is to commit ourselves to a very bad future.”

“I am glad they changed the direction,” Manchin said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “I am happy for the statement that both Sen . Burr and Sen . Warner have made now. We’re working together.”

In addition to the Intelligence panel, the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees are examining the Kremlin ’ s suspected election meddling, with some other Senate subcommittees also likely looking into aspects of the issue. The leaders of those panels have cobbled together an informal coordination effort to make sure they stay off each others’ toes.

The congressional source said the coordinated push is, in part, a “sustained effort” to keep Burr “on board” with the bipartisan desire to investigate the actions allegedly taken by Moscow.