Chalupa declined to comment.

While intelligence officials and many Republican senators have said there’s no evidence that Ukraine meddled in the election, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said on Friday that “there are many unanswered questions that have festered for years.”

“One of the reasons our nation remains so divided is the disconnect between those who are curious about any and all possible foreign interference and those who are not. Those who are curious, have a legitimate and understandable desire to know if wrongdoing occurred,” said Johnson, the Senate Homeland Security chairman.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). did not mince words after the announcement, calling for new election security and sanctions legislation and alleging that "every day that Senate Republicans parrot Putin’s talking points further undermines our democracy—and our national security."

“When Vladimir Putin says stoop, Senate Republicans are asking: how low? Putin and his intelligence services disinformation campaign team in Moscow couldn't have cooked up a more useful tool for spreading conjured and baseless conspiracy theories than the one Chairmen Graham, Grassley and Johnson announced today," Schumer said in a statement.

But Republicans have vehemently defended their work as legitimate and made clear their investigation is separate from the discredited idea that Ukraine hacked the DNC servers.

“While there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, we know that Russia meddled in our democratic processes. However, certain reports of collusion and interference involving Ukrainian officials have not been sufficiently examined, and the few answers that have been given are inadequate,” added Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the Senate Finance chairman.

Johnson and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) bashed the media for not investigating the matter, with Graham concluding “that to believe that the mainstream media will investigate all things Russia or Ukraine is to hope against hope.” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) has also advanced the theory that Ukraine played a significant role disrupting the election and was contradicted by many of his colleagues; Kennedy has since said he's done discussing Ukraine.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said this week that the matter should be reserved for the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The effort on Friday was just the latest step of the senators’ efforts to establish whether Ukraine helped undermine Trump. The senators have also asked for information on whether Ukraine coordinated with Democrats from the National Archives and about Chalupa from the Justice Department.

Natasha Bertrand contributed to this report.

