During the first of what is expected to be many public hearings over the next several months, members of the Senate Intelligence Committee heard from experts on past Russian efforts to influence elections around the world.
Those efforts have extra significance now, as Congress attempts to get to the bottom of Russian meddling during the last election without drifting into a partisan squabble.
Both of Maine’s senators serve on the Intelligence Committee, which plans to hold both public hearings and closed sessions to investigate Russian efforts to influence not only American elections but elections around the world. U.S. Sen. Angus King, an independent, says history is full of examples of Russian efforts to influence policies of other governments.
“What we saw in the 2016 election is absolutely consistent with prior Russian practice and current Russian practice in other parts of the world,” he says.
King says there have been active efforts using social and traditional media to directly influence elections in many European countries that were once part of the old Soviet Union or were part of the Warsaw pact nations controlled by the Soviet Union.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, says a television network, Russia Today, seen on many cable and satellite systems in the United States, has been used to influence political activity in the U.S.
“Russia Today, which most people view as an organ of the Russian government, was instrumental in trying to advance the protests of Occupy Wall Street,” she says.
Collins says it’s clear the Russians will seek to exploit both the right and the left to advance their goals. She says part of what the committee needs to explore is defense against the pervasive use of media to support or oppose a movement or a campaign.
Sen. King agrees, and spoke to the need for greater defense against Russian efforts in the future on MSNBC.
“They are going to do it again here, they are going to be back in 2018, 2020, 2024, so a big part of what we are doing is, how do we prepare ourselves and defend ourselves?” he says.
And King says in private discussions the members of the Senate Intelligence Committee have vowed to conduct the probe in a nonpartisan way and avoid the problems plaguing the House Intelligence Committee, where Democrats are demanding the Republican chair of the committee step down after it was revealed he discussed the probe with Trump administration officials.
“I don’t want to pretend that there aren’t going to be some conflicts, this is a difficult issue and has partisan overtones. But I think most of our members realize it is too important to fall into that,” he says.
Collins says members of the Senate Intelligence Committee have discussed the need to make sure their probe stays nonpartisan. She says the House operates differently than the Senate and is more partisan.
“I also think it is simply easier in a body of just 100 people for us to get to know one another and work together,” she says.
Both senators agree the committee’s proceedings should be open as possible. They say some meetings must be done in closed session to protect intelligence sources and methods. But without significant openness, they worry their report could face questions of both thoroughness and fairness.
