Story highlights The Senate intelligence committee is trying to avoid the drama of their House counterparts

Senators have their first public hearing Thursday

Washington (CNN) The leaders of the Senate Russia investigation ticked through numbers, figures, details and procedure for close to 40 minutes Wednesday afternoon, but it all boiled down to one message: After all the drama with the House and GOP Rep. Devin Nunes, the adults are now in charge.

Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr and Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the committee, were laughing, smiling and generally collegial as they held a joint news conference Wednesday.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Capitol, the House investigation is in suspended animation -- House Intelligence Chairman Nunes is under fire for meeting with an intelligence source at the White House and subsequently meeting with President Donald Trump the next day. Top House Democrats have called on Nunes to recuse himself from the investigation.

Burr and Warner laid out their plans -- 20 witnesses they want to interview, with Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort agreeing to testify -- and outlined the seriousness of the probe.

"This one is one of the biggest investigations the Hill has seen in my time here," said Burr, who has served in DC since 1995.

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