参议院委员会承诺彻查俄罗斯对美大选影响

On the eve of closely watched public hearings, the Republican chairman and top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee pledged an exhaustive and impartial probe of Russian meddling in last year’s election, and any possible collusion by President Donald Trump’s inner circle.

“This investigation’s scope will go wherever the intelligence leads it,” Chairman Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, said at a news conference Wednesday. “We will get to the bottom of this,” concurred Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the committee’s ranking Democrat.

Burr said an "uNPRecedented amount of documents" have been received, and the committee is in "constant negotiation" with the intelligence community to gain access to additional material. He added that there will be at least 20 interviews to conduct, including with President Trump’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who volunteered to speak with the panel.

Neither Burr nor Warner revealed any conclusions reached so far, except Russia’s aims. “Vladimir Putin’s goal is a weaker United States,” Warner said. “Weaker economically, weaker globally. And that should be a concern to all Americans regardless of party affiliation.”

Until now, the House Intelligence Committee had taken the lead in the Russia probe. But that committee cancelled open hearings this week amid a firestorm surrounding its chairman, Republican Congressman Devin Nunes, who personally briefed President Trump on classified material he had not yet shared with the committee.

With the House panel seemingly in disarray, its Senate counterpart is now in the spotlight. Burr said he cast his ballot for Trump last November, but he denied that party loyalty would color his work.

Even so, a growing number of Democrats say the full truth may never come to light in Republican controlled legislative committees.

The White House has complained of a smear campaign against the president’s team, but acknowledged the need for investigations to proceed.

在受到密切关注的公开听证会前夕，美国参议院情报委员会的共和党主席和资深民主党人承诺对俄罗斯对去年美国大选的影响，以及川普总统核心团队与俄罗斯的任何可能的联系进行详尽无误的调查。

情报委员会主席、来自北卡罗来纳州的共和党人理查德·伯尔周三在资讯发布会上说：“情报指向那里，这项调查的范围就将包括哪里。” 委员会最资深的民主党成员、弗吉尼亚州参议员马克·华纳附和说，“我们将深入调查到底”。

伯尔表示，已经收到了“前所未有数量的文件”，委员会正在不断与情报部门谈判，以获取更多的资料。他补充说，将进行至少20次约谈，包括对川普总统的顾问和女婿贾里斯·库什纳，库什纳自愿与该委员会会面。

除了俄罗斯想要达到的目标，伯尔和华纳都没有透露迄今为止得出的任何结论。华纳说，“普京的目标是一个削弱了的美国。”他说，“经济上疲软，在全球影响力减弱。这应该是不论党派的所有美国人都关心的问题。”

众议院情报委员会一直在主导对俄罗斯问题的调查。但是，该委员会取消了本周的公开听证会。与此同时，该委员会主席、共和党人德文·努涅斯向川普总统汇报了他未与委员会分享的机密信息。

在众议院情报委员会看似出现混乱之际，参议院情报委员会成了焦点。伯尔说，他去年11月投了川普一票，但是他否认同在共和党阵营会影响到他的工作。

即使如此，越来越多的民主党人表示，共和党人控制下的国会委员会可能永远不会让事实浮出水面。

白宫曾抱怨这是国会对总统团队进行的抹黑运动，但承认需要进行调查。