--- title: 2016 Election: Senators Want to Probe Russia’s Interference description: A group of Democratic and Republican senators called for an investigation into reports of Russian interference on the 2016 election canonical: https://time.com/4597386/bipartisan-senators-probe-russia-interference/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-11T16:53:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:15.826Z article:section: Politics og:title: Senators Want to Investigate Russia’s Interference in 2016 Election og:description: The CIA's reports "should alarm every American," they said og:url: https://time.com/4597386/bipartisan-senators-probe-russia-interference/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51f246e4ac2bcd3b/6988b285ab6d77afc16ac383/russia-election-congress.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Capitol Sunset og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Senators Want to Investigate Russia’s Interference in 2016 Election twitter:description: The CIA's reports "should alarm every American," they said twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51f246e4ac2bcd3b/6988b285ab6d77afc16ac383/russia-election-congress.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Senators Want to Investigate Russia’s Interference in 2016 Election: ‘This Cannot Become a Partisan Issue’ > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Dec 11, 2016 4:53 PM UTC  The sun sets at the U.S. Capitol as the 114th session of Congress comes to a close on Dec. 8, 2016. The sun sets at the U.S. Capitol as the 114th session of Congress comes to a close on Dec. 8, 2016. Bill Clark—CQ-Roll Call,Inc. by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Dec 11, 2016 4:53 PM UTC A group of Democratic and Republican senators called for an investigation into reports of Russian interference in the 2016 election, saying they “should alarm every American.” Republican senators John McCain, from Arizona, and Lindsey Graham, from South Carolina, joined Democrats Charles Schumer, from New York, and Jack Reed, from Rhode Island, to release a statement on Sunday calling for a probe into the reports that [Russia interfered](http://time.com/4597274/donald-trump-russia-election-intervention-cia/) to help [Donald Trump ](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump/)defeat [Hillary Clinton](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-hillary-clinton-runner-up/). “Congress’s national security committees have worked diligently to address the complex challenge of cybersecurity, but recent events show that more must be done,” the senators said in the statement. “While protecting classified material, we have an obligation to inform the public about recent cyberattacks that have cut to the heart of our free society.” The statement came after [Trump slammed the CIA’s report](http://time.com/4597274/donald-trump-russia-election-intervention-cia/) on Russian interference. “These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction,” his transition team said in a statement. “The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It’s now time to move on and ‘Make America Great Again.'” The senators said Democrats and Republicans “must work together, and across the jurisdictional lines of the Congress, to examine these recent incidents thoroughly and devise comprehensive solutions to deter and defend against further cyberattacks.” “This cannot become a partisan issue,” they said. “The stakes are too high for our country.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4597386/bipartisan-senators-probe-russia-interference/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4597386/bipartisan-senators-probe-russia-interference/"},"headline":"Senators Want to Investigate Russia’s Interference in 2016 Election: ‘This Cannot Become a Partisan Issue’","datePublished":"2016-12-11T16:53:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:15.826Z","description":"The CIA's reports \"should alarm every American,\" they said","url":"https://time.com/4597386/bipartisan-senators-probe-russia-interference/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51f246e4ac2bcd3b/6988b285ab6d77afc16ac383/russia-election-congress.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51f246e4ac2bcd3b/6988b285ab6d77afc16ac383/russia-election-congress.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Capitol Sunset","caption":"Capitol Sunset","creditText":"Bill Clark—CQ-Roll Call,Inc.","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4597386/bipartisan-senators-probe-russia-interference/","name":"Senators Want to Investigate Russia’s Interference in 2016 Election: ‘This Cannot Become a Partisan Issue’"}}]}] ```