On Monday, FBI Director James Comey admitted during a House Intelligence Committee hearing that the FBI was investigating any evidence of Russian interference or collusion during the 2016 election.
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In the hearing, Comey shared a professional opinion from his department:
FBI Director James Comey: Our analysts have the view that Russia wanted Trump to win the election https://t.co/CM0sxe8ogh
— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) March 20, 2017
Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) asked Comey to clarify whether or not the FBI consistently believed that Russia had hoped and “were working to have [President Trump] win and [Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton] lose.”
“Our analysts had a view, that I don’t believe changed, from late fall through to the report on January 6th that it had those three elements,” Comey replied.
At another point in his testimony, he was asked to clarify the FBI’s timeline:
Comey: Russia's goals in 2016 were to hurt U.S. democracy, hurt Hillary Clinton and help Trump pic.twitter.com/IF9lRnsNN1
— Axios (@axios) March 20, 2017
Comey said that the FBI made the conclusion by early December that Russia “wanted to hurt our democracy, hurt her, help him.”