No evidence that Russia has taken steps to help any candidate in 2020, intelligence official tells Congress

WASHINGTON - A senior U.S. intelligence official told Congress on Tuesday that the intelligence community does not as yet have evidence that Russia is interfering in the 2020 election to benefit a particular candidate, according to four officials familiar with the closed briefings in the House and Senate.

The head of national counterintelligence, William Evanina, appeared to be tempering an assessment delivered to lawmakers in the House last month that Russia had developed a "preference" for President Donald Trump - an assessment that angered the president when he was told that it had been given to lawmakers, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the sessions were classified.

Evanina told senators that the Russians "continue to be broadly engaged in social media activities designed to divide us further, to discredit our electoral system and to disrupt our election," said one official present at the all-members meeting.

In the Senate, Evanina's carefully worded answer came in response to the first question asked - by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky - and "felt orchestrated," said a second official, who was briefed on the meeting. "Both question and response were clearly pre-drafted."

The intelligence officials who gave the briefing, including National Security Agency Director Paul Nakasone and FBI Director Christopher Wray, did not give senators an impression that the Trump administration has a solid grip on dealing with foreign interference in the coming election, said a third official briefed on the session.

Senators "came out of it without a true sense that this administration has a handle on this and we're going to be okay for 2020," the official said.

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In the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the Intelligence Committee chairman, challenged the briefer on what struck them as an effort to play down the assessment given last month by Shelby Pierson, the intelligence community's point person on foreign election threats, a fourth official said.

The briefing appeared to be an attempt by the intelligence officials to soften their message in the wake of a session last month in which the intelligence community's point person on foreign election threats, Pierson, informed House Intelligence Committee members that Russia had "developed a preference" for Trump in 2020.

Trump has long chafed at notions that Russia has interfered in or sought to intervene in the election, dating back to his pique at the U.S. intelligence community's unanimous conclusion that Moscow took steps to aid his election in 2016.

"There is another Russia, Russia, Russia meeting today," Trump tweeted Tuesday morning. "It is headed up by corrupt politician [House Intelligence Committee Chairman] Adam "Shifty" Schiff, so I wouldn't expect too much!"

Schiff tweeted in response: "Mr. President, you are wrong. As usual. Today's briefing for all House Members focuses on the threat of foreign interference in our election. The briefers are agency heads and senior officials. They are your own people. We will insist on the truth, whether you like it or not."

Tuesday's briefing is part of a regular series to keep lawmakers apprised of the government's progress in securing federal elections and on foreign interference. Congress in December mandated such briefings for leadership and the House and Senate Intelligence committees.

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