SEN. MARTIN HEINRICH (D-NM): The president has repeatedly talked about the Russian investigation into the U.S. or Russia's involvement in the U.S. election cycle as “a hoax” and as “fake news.” Can you talk a little bit about what you saw as FBI director, and obviously only the parts that you can share in this setting, that demonstrate how serious this action actually was and why there was an investigation in the first place?

JAMES COMEY: Yes, sir. There should be no fuzz on this whatsoever. The Russians interfered in our election during the 2016 cycle. They did it with purpose. They did it with sophistication. They did it with overwhelming technical efforts. And it was an active measures campaign driven from the top of that government. There is no fuzz on that. It is a high-confidence judgment of the entire intelligence community, and the members of this committee have seen the intelligence. It's not a close call. That happened. That's about as unfake as you can possibly get and is very, very serious, which is why it's so refreshing to see a bipartisan focus on that because this is about America, not about any particular party.

HEINRICH: So that was a hostile act by the Russian government against this country?

COMEY: Yes, sir.

Previously:

Fake news purveyors boost Putin’s claims to dismiss allegations of Russian interference in 2016 election

Possible Trump Pick John Bolton Says Allegations Of Russian Electoral Interference Could Be A “False Flag”

In The Clash Between US Intelligence Agencies And Russia, Fox's Tucker Carlson Picks Russia

Trump Ally Roger Stone Goes On RT And Defends Russia From Allegations Of Election Interference