The top two members of the Senate Intelligence Committee says their panel's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 elections clearly shows that Moscow was trying to "create chaos" in the United States, though no conclusions have been made at this point about any links between the Russians and the Trump campaign.
"The issue of collusion is still open," said Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) in a news conference, as Burr repeatedly refused to put an end date on the investigation.
"We have more work to do as it relates to collusion, but we are developing a clearer picture of what happened," Burr added, emphasizing that no final conclusions have been made by the intelligence panel.
The panel's top Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), said it was clear that Russians were behind well known hacks of emails, penetrations of the election systems of 21 states, and the use of social media to 'sow chaos and division.'
"The Russian active measures efforts did not end on Election Day 2016," Warner added. "They were not only geared at the United States of America," Warner told reporters.
"I think the pattern that they used in America has been used in other nations around the world," Warner said, alluding to Russian efforts to sway elections in France, Germany and other nations.
Burr and Warner said they had invited officials from Google, Facebook and Twitter to testify at a November 1 hearing, to get more information about possible Russian interference with the election via those social media platforms.
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