The Senate Intelligence Committee may wrap up its Russia investigation by the end of this year, its chairman Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., said in a new interview.
Burr told The New York Times his panel wants to finish its probe and move on, but also make recommendations that would help prevent Russia from interfering with another U.S. election — which the U.S. intelligence community believes took place.
"What continues this investigation are the names of individuals that we didn't know at the time, the documents that we weren't aware of, the communications, the cables, the emails, the phone logs of individuals that we wouldn't have thought then that we needed to interview or to look at their records," Burr told the Times.
Burr is "hopeful that we can bring finality to this by the end of the year, but I also can't anticipate anything new that might come up that we don't know today that would extend it by a month or two months. So, I am conscious of the fact that I need to do this expeditiously, but I need to do it thoroughly and I won't do anything to cut it short."
The Senate Intelligence Committee is conducting one of several investigations into Russia's meddling in the U.S. election and whether President Donald Trump's campaign colluded with it. There is also an ongoing Department of Justice probe, headed by former FBI director Robert Mueller.
Burr said although his committee's investigation involves classified information regarding spy practices, it will be important to be transparent with the American public with the panel's conclusions.
"The conclusion of this investigation has to have a public disclosure for the American people to look at what we found and to make their own assessment, not necessarily for there to be groupthink within Congress and us to have a kumbaya moment," Burr said.
Burr also told reporters in June that he hoped to finish the Russia investigation by the end of 2017.