https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.com/homenews/senate/429702-warner-burr-split-on-committee-findings-on-collusion?amp
February 12, 2019 - 06:23 PM EST
Warner, Burr split on committee findings on collusion
Sen.
Mark Warner (Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, broke on Tuesday with committee Chairman
Richard Burr's (R-N.C.) assessment that the panel had not found evidence of collusion based on its findings thus far.
"Respectfully, I disagree," Warner said,
according to CNN. "I'm not going to get into any conclusions I've reached because my basis of this has been that I'm not going to reach any conclusion until we finish the investigation. And we still have a number of the key witnesses to come back."
Burr
told CBS News last week that "based on the evidence" the committee has seen so far, there is nothing to suggest that members of
President Trump's campaign and the Russian government colluded during the 2016 election.
The split in public comments between Burr and Warner marked a rare instance of a partisan divide between the two committee leaders, who have been conducting a bipartisan investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election
NBC News
reported Tuesday that the committee is nearing the end of its investigation having uncovered no direct evidence of collusion, but some senators on the panel were less committal.
Sen.
Angus King (I-Maine), a member of the Intelligence Committee, told The Hill when asked about the NBC report that the panel "has not concluded anything."
"Several of the individual members have made statements, but I certainly am not prepared to make a statement as to what was found or not found," he said.
Trump last week seized on Burr's remarks about the committee's findings. The president highlighted the senator's comments as proof that his campaign did not collude, but did not mention that Burr was referring to evidence the committee has reviewed to date.
Burr has periodically said he has seen no evidence of collusion between the campaign and the Russian government, however he has noted he will wait to make a final judgment until the investigation is fully completed.