2016 ELECTION/GOP/ROBERT MUELLER/SENATE/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A GOP-led Senate committee backed U.S. intelligence agencies’ finding that Moscow tried to boost Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign by hacking and spreading misinformation, a bipartisan conclusion that breaks with a House panel’s position and the president’s rejection of the notion that Russia wanted him to win. The Senate Intelligence Committee’s conclusion, made public Wednesday [5-16-18] after a closed-door hearing with former intelligence chiefs, is part of the panel’s continuing probe, begun 14 months ago, into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election. It supports the findings of the intelligence agencies under former President Barack Obama, a Democrat. The Republican president and many of his allies have repeatedly dismissed the idea that Moscow meddled on his behalf—particularly disputing that the Russian effort might have had an impact on the election’s outcome. A House Intelligence Committee report released earlier this year said Russia didn’t aim to boost Mr. Trump’s chances of winning the election but instead sought to subvert the notion of free and fair elections and spread ‘chaos and discord’ in the U.S.”
-Byron Tau, Rebecca Ballhaus and Erica Orden, “Senate Intelligence Committee Backs Conclusion That Moscow Attempted to Boost Trump,” The Wall Street Journal, May 16, 2018 7:20 pm