Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt joined a growing number of Republicans on Monday who said Congress should investigate Russia’s possible interference in the U.S. election.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday said he would authorize the Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence to to investigate Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee and other U.S. political organizations during the campaign.
President-elect Donald Trump has called the idea that Russia interfered in the election “ridiculous.”
But Blunt told McClatchy he was briefed before and after the election as a member of the secretive Senate intelligence committee, and he agrees with the intelligence community’s assessment that the Russian government directed hacks of U.S. political organizations in an effort to interfere with the election process.
“It would be imprudent to publicly discuss any additional sensitive information at this time,” Blunt said in a written statement. “We will continue to look very seriously into this issue, and we will work in a bipartisan and uncompromising manner.”
Blunt, who served as Missouri’s top election official before running for Congress, added that he would be most concerned by any effort to manipulate vote-counting systems.
“Our elections have always benefited from the incredible diversity that hopefully continues to make it impossible to have any significant impact on what happens in the actual election process,” he said.
Lindsay Wise: 202-383-6007, @lindsaywise