Sen. Christopher Coons (D-Del.) said in an interview broadcast Sunday that “it’s hard to say” Russia’s election meddling did not affect the outcome of the 2016 election, pointing to Democrat Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonJeff Flake: Republicans 'should hold the same position' on SCOTUS vacancy as 2016 Momentum growing among Republicans for Supreme Court vote before Election Day Warning signs flash for Lindsey Graham in South Carolina MORE's popular vote win.

“It's hard to say that this didn't affect the outcome. It was an exceptionally close election. I'll remind you one candidate won the popular vote. The other candidate won the electoral vote,” Coons told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

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“But it's not yet clear whether the Russians succeeded in actually changing votes. What's clear is that they spent millions and millions of dollars and had hundreds of people working in a troll farm in St. Petersburg to intentionally undermine one candidate, Hillary Clinton, and support another, Donald Trump.”

Coons’s comments come after the Justice Department last week announced indictments against 13 Russian nationals and three Russian groups as part of the special counsel’s probe into Russia's election interference.

The intelligence community in a declassified report released last year concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin called for an influence campaign aimed at helping President Trump Donald John TrumpUS reimposes UN sanctions on Iran amid increasing tensions Jeff Flake: Republicans 'should hold the same position' on SCOTUS vacancy as 2016 Trump supporters chant 'Fill that seat' at North Carolina rally MORE win the White House. The report, however, did not assess the impact of Russia’s actions.