Key moments from the Senate's Russian hacking hearing

Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) held a long-awaited hearing Thursday with top intelligence officials on Russian cyber-aggression, after weeks of President-elect Donald Trump scoffing at their conclusions that Kremlin-backing hackers meddled in the 2016 election. Below are highlights from the hearing, which included testimony from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and National Security Agency chief Michael Rogers:

McCain called Russia's hacking "an unprecedented attack on our democracy” and suggested it would be "an attack on the United States of America" had Moscow's action’s affected the results of the election. Still, he cautioned that “none of us believe" Russia had swayed the outcome, and Clapper said the intelligence community has no way to gauge how the hacking may have affected the electorate’s choices. “Whether or not that constitutes an act of war I think is a very heavy policy call that I don’t believe the intelligence community should make,” Clapper said. “But it's certainly — would carry, in my view, great gravity.”

Democrats — and Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham — repeatedly criticized Trump's "disparagement" and "trashing" of the intelligence community. Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill accused the president-elect of putting WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, whose site released many of the most damaging hacked Democratic emails, "on a pedestal,” adding: “I think it should bring about a hue and cry. ... No matter whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, there should be howls. And mark my word: If the roles were reversed, there would be howls from the Republican side of the aisle.”

Trump’s rhetoric about intelligence agencies is alarming American allies, Clapper told Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). "I've received many expressions of concern from foreign counterparts about, you know, the disparagement of the U.S. intelligence community, or I should say what has been interpreted as disparagement of the intelligence community,” Clapper said. In response to an earlier question from McCaskill, the spy chief remarked: "I think there’s a difference between skepticism and disparagement.”





Graham suggested that Trump should support more sanctions against Russia, remarking that President Barack Obama had thrown a “pebble” at the Kremlin instead of a “rock.” He also reminded the GOP that Republicans could be hacked in the next election. “It’s not like we’re so much better at cybersecurity than Democrats,” Graham said.

Graham had Rogers confirm that Iran and China had the same capabilities to hack the U.S., and that Vladimir Putin likely knew of Russia’s cyber intrusions — points it seems Graham wanted Trump to be aware of. "I want to let the president-elect know it's OK to challenge the intel,” Graham said, adding: “But what I don't want you to do is undermine those who are serving our nation in this arena until you're absolutely sure they need to be undermined. And I think they need to be uplifted, not undermined.”

McCain also went after Assange, whom Trump had quoted Wednesday in a barrage of tweets scoffing at Russian involvement in hacks aimed at the Democratic Party. McCain asked Clapper to confirm that Assange was responsible for publishing the names of people who work for U.S. intelligence — and he questioned whether “there’s any credibility we should attach to this individual.” Clapper responded, “Not in my view.” And Rogers said, “I second those comments."

McCain said investigating Russian activity is not meant to cast doubt on Trump's victory. “The goal of this review, as I understand it, is not to question the outcome of the presidential election, nor should it be," he said. "As both President Obama and President-elect Trump have said, our nation must move forward. But we must do so with full knowledge of the fact."

Clapper affirmed that the intelligence community “will ascribe a motivation” for why Putin would have directed cyberattacks against the U.S. when it releases its report to Congress and the public early next week — while cautioning that Russia had "more than one motive." Intelligence officials and even the White House have indicated that Putin was personally involved in the Kremlin’s cyber intrusions.

Russian propaganda was an element of the Kremlin’s “multifaceted campaign” against the U.S., which included its news agencies, social media, "fake news" and the English-language news channel RT, Clapper said. “Of course, RT, which is heavily supported by — funded by — the Russian government, was very, very active in promoting a particular line, point of view, disparaging our system, our alleged hypocrisy about human rights, et cetera, et cetera,” he continued. “Whatever crack they could fissure, they could find in our tapestry, if you will, they would exploit it.”

Clapper denied involvement in a possible plan by Trump to rearrange the nation's intelligence agencies. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Trump and his advisers are considering “a plan that would restructure and pare back the nation’s top spy agency.” Top committee Democrat Jack Reed asked: “Have you at all, as the experts in this field, been engaged in any of these discussions, deliberations, advice?” Clapper responded: “No, we have not.”

Clapper said “there is some pushback” on a proposal that the federal government consider Republican and Democratic party infrastructure to be part of the nation's “critical infrastructure,” which the Department of Homeland Security notes serves as the backbone of the U.S. economy, security and health. “It's a policy call, to whatever additional protections that such a declaration would afford,” he said. “I think that would be a good thing. But whether or not we should do that or not is really not a call for the intelligence community to make.”

Before the hearing began, Clapper, Rogers and Defense Undersecretary for Intelligence Marcel Lettre issued a joint statement calling Russia “a full-scope cyber actor that poses a major threat to U.S. Government, military, diplomatic, commercial, and critical infrastructure and key resource networks” — and warning that the Kremlin will continue its aggression in cyberspace. They added: “We assess that only Russia's senior-most officials could have authorized the recent election-focused data thefts and disclosures, based on the scope and sensitivity of the targets,” language that tacitly points the finger at Putin.

McCain also said the hearing “is not the time or place to preview” the findings of the intelligence community's still-unreleased comprehensive report on Russia's interference in the U.S. political process — but Reed asked the witnesses to preview it anyway. “Although your investigation and report to President Obama is not yet public, we hope you'll be able to convey and explain what’s been accomplished so far, including the steps already announced by the president,” he said.