GOP-Led Senate Intel Committee Reportedly Found No Evidence of ‘Top-Down Interference Campaign’ from Ukraine in ‘16

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A GOP-led Senate Intelligence Committee investigation into allegations that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election found no evidence to support the assertion, according to a new report.

Politico’s Natasha Bertrand reported that the investigation led by Republican Sen. Richard Burr flared out after a 2017 interview with Democratic National Committee consultant Alexandra Chalupa went nowhere. Chalupa is central to a number of conspiracy theories claiming that Ukraine tried to interfere in the 2016 election.

“The Republican-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee thoroughly investigated that theory, according to people with direct knowledge of the inquiry, and found no evidence that Ukraine waged a top-down interference campaign akin to the Kremlin’s efforts to help Trump win in 2016.”

“I think it is very clear to me, and this has been testified to by every leader of law enforcement, [and the] intelligence community, that there’s been absolutely no validity to this crazy conspiracy theory that Ukraine was behind the 2016 intervention,” Ranking Member Sen. Mark Warner previously said about the theory. Burr declined to comment to Politico.

The comments come after a much publicized media tour from Sen. John Kennedy, who claimed Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election during Sunday’s episode of Meet the Press. Kennedy does not sit on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

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