John McCain (R-Ariz.) appeared on “CBS This Morning” with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) one day after the two men issued a joint statement calling for a congressional investigation into Russian hackers meddling in last month’s presidential election. | AP Photo McCain and Schumer present unified front against Russian hacking

That the Russian government launched cyberattacks against American political targets is not in question, Sen. John McCain said Monday morning, and should be treated as a grave threat to U.S. national security.

McCain (R-Ariz.) appeared on “CBS This Morning” with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) one day after the two men issued a joint statement calling for a congressional investigation into Russian hackers meddling in last month’s presidential election. The issue should be one of bipartisan concern, Schumer said, uniting “Democrats, Republicans, conservatives, liberals, patriots, people who care about this country.”


“Look, we don't want to point a finger and I don't want this to turn into a Benghazi investigation, which seemed, at least to many people, highly political. This is serious stuff,” Schumer said. “When a foreign power tries to influence our election or damage our economy, for that matter, this is serious. It's gotten worse. And a bipartisan investigation that’s not aimed at one specific instance but looks at the broad scope of this is just what’s needed.”

The U.S. intelligence community released a report in October that officially blamed Russia for cyberattacks against targets that included, among others, the Democratic National Committee and former Secretary of State Colin Powell. A Washington Post report published last week cited a U.S. official who said that it is the “consensus view” of the intelligence community that Russia’s hacking efforts were intended to aid Trump’s presidential campaign.

Trump called the Post report “ridiculous” and “just another excuse” from “very embarrassed” Democrats upset about losing the election. And despite assertions from 17 federal intelligence agencies to the contrary, Trump has expressed skepticism that Russia was behind the cyberattacks at all.

McCain said Monday that he could not speak with any certainty to Russia’s motives but broke with his party’s president-elect to add that “there is no doubt about the hacking. Let's establish that.” He said the larger issue of cybersecurity needs urgent attention because it is “the only form of possible conflict where our adversaries have an advantage over us.”

“That is why it should be bipartisan and that’s why a guy like John McCain [is] leading it. I have a lot of faith in him. He is a man who has stood up for his principles,” Schumer said. “I called him yesterday morning and said, ‘look, we should not have this degenerate into political finger pointing. It's too serious.’ He agreed. We put out our statement.”