"I have seen no evidence that election would have been different but that doesn't change the fact that the Russians and the others, Chinese to a lesser degree, have been able to interfere with our electoral process. Whether how serious it is and whether it would have effected the outcome of the election or not is the reason why we need to have a select committee," McCain told CNN broadcaster in an interview.
On Thursday, NBC News claimed citing unnamed US intelligence officials that Russian President Vladimir Putin was allegedly directly involved in cyberattacks that impacted the 2016 presidential election. On Friday, US President Barack Obama suggested during his last news conference that the cyberattacks were likely initiated "at the highest levels of the Russian government."
Later same day, the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Senator Richard Burr said that the committee would investigate charges that the Russian government sought to help President-elect Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign.
Russian senior officials have repeatedly denied Washington’s claims of election-meddling, characterizing them as absurd and an attempt to distract the US public from pressing domestic issues.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow considers media reports claiming Putin personally interfered in the US presidential election "funny nonsense."
