| By Joe Uchill
The heated debate over Russian hacking shows no signs of settling down in the coming week.
All eyes will be on how President-elect Donald Trump and Congress react to a newly declassified intelligence report on the Russian hacking.
Trump on Friday received a private briefing from intelligence officials where they laid out their evidence linking Russia to a series of election season hacks on the Democratic National Committee and other groups.
Trump, who has long dismissed those allegations of Russian interference, avoided saying whether or not the meeting changed his opinion.
After the briefing, he conceded that other nations are targeting the U.S., but said the cyberattacks didn’t affect the outcome of the election.
“While Russia, China, other countries, outside groups and people are consistently trying to break through the cyber infrastructure of our governmental institutions, businesses and organizations including the Democrat National Committee, there was absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election including the fact that there was no tampering whatsoever with voting machines,” he said in a statement.
Trump was backed by Republican lawmakers, including Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) who said Trump won “fair and square.”
A declassified version of the intelligence report on Russian hacking soon became public after the Trump briefing.
It claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a widespread campaign to influence the election, both to help Trump and embarrass the United States.
The declassified report is heavy on the narrative of what happened and why, but light on evidence to substantiate it, providing fodder for both sides in the debate.
Democrats hit back on Friday, nothing that while there was no tampering with election machines, it was wrong to say the Russian efforts had no impact.
The Friday revelations capped a busy week that saw the new Congress begin.
A day before, lawmakers heard from intelligence officials at two hearings on Russia’s involvement in the election, one behind closed doors and one public hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
And there are more hearings to come.
On Tuesday, the Senate Intelligence Committee will hold a rare public hearing.
The lawmakers will hear testimony from CIA Director John Brennan, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, FBI Director James Comey, and National Security Agency Director Adm. Michael Rogers.
Democrats are also ramping up pressure for an independent commission to investigate the election hacking.
More than 170 Democrats signed onto a bill from Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) to launch that probe.
And in the Senate, there could be new legislation in the coming week that places tougher sanctions on Russia.
Sen. Ben Cardin (Md.), the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, is working with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and others to finalize the language.
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