Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) appeared on both CNN and CBS Sunday, and one of the topics he discussed is the ongoing investigation into any Russian involvement in last November's election and any collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
Former FBI Director James Comey is scheduled to testify Thursday, and Warner said one thing he will ask him is whether he was pressured to downplay the Russian investigation. On CBS, he said he'll be asking Comey "what kind of pressure appropriate, inappropriate, how many conversations he had with the president about this topic, did some of these conversations take place even before the president was sworn in?"
CNN's Jake Tapper cut to the chase and asked Warner if there's any evidence of collusion, to which he replied:
Listen, there's a lot of smoke. We have no smoking gun at this point. But there is a lot of smoke.And, again, one of the questions we will have, not only for Director Comey on Thursday, but on Wednesday for Director of National Intelligence Coats and NSA, National Security -- NSA Director Admiral Rogers, I'm going to want to ask them, because there have been reports that the president also talked to both of them in terms of asking them to downplay the Russian investigation.
That would be very concerning to me.
Warner praised his fellow intelligence committee members and their bipartisan cooperation, and promised they would "just follow the facts."