© 2024
Virginia's Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Russia Investigation Brings Spotlight to Virginia Senator Mark Warner

J. Scott Applewhite
/
AP

Virginia Democratic Senator Mark Warner is earning praise – and some criticism – for his handling of the Russia investigation. Matt Laslo reports from the Capitol on what the role means to Warner and the commonwealth.

 

Warner is Virginia’s senior senator and he's seen as a more moderate Democrat because he’s been willing to negotiate with Republicans on things like cutting the deficit. But as the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, this Russia investigation is a new role for him 

 

“There are tensions on both sides. There are people on the Republican side who want this just to go away," Warner says. "And there are folks from the Democratic side who absolutely believe the President is guilty. Our job is to keep following the facts.”

 

Warner says he’s not surprised politics have crept into the investigation.

 

“You know there were always going to be bumps. But I think I’m really proud of the committee and how it’s worked.”

 

While President Trump denies his campaign colluded with Russia and even denies they attempted to influence the election, Warner says his job is to uncover the truth. 

 

“This is a critical issue for our country and there’s going to be strong feelings. End of the day though, our job is to get the facts and we still got a ways to go because, for example, we’ve not really had a chance to sit down with the folks that were affiliated with the Trump campaign that at least have been reported in the press to potentially have had contacts with Russians,” he says. 

 

Warner’s Republican counterpart in the investigation is Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina. Burr says Warner’s been a good ally, but that it was inevitable the public hearings would become a little partisan.

 

“We’re still working together just fine, but it is an investigation that has political threads to it. So far we have been able to minimize that, but most of the politics of it are more in reporting. And not in actual meetings," says Burr.

 

But Virginia Republicans, like Congressman Dave Brat, are starting to criticize Warner. Brat says Warner's role in the spotlight is creating unfounded hysteria -- all smoke, no fire. 

 

“I think he sees too much smoke everywhere. I think he’s in a 'Cheech and Chong' movie or something," says Brat. "It’s just smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke. Please identify what even the smoke is." 

 

Brat says Warner should stop talking about the investigation as it goes, and just release a report at the end.

 

“Everybody’s politicizing it, yeah. Yeah no he’s doing too much, everyone’s politicizing it too much, right?" he says. "We need to just ramp it down, when you get the evidence let us know.”

 

But Virginia Democrats brush aside those criticisms. Northern Virginia Congressman Gerry Connolly says Brat’s assertion is baseless.

 

“I think it’s absurd, I think quite the opposite," Connolly says. "I think Mark Warner has gone out of his way to reach an accommodation with his republican counterpart to ensure that we have a fair investigation, but a rigorous one. And let the facts take us where they will.”

 

And Democrat Don Beyer, of Northern Virginia, says Warner is gaining more respect each day, which could help him in future negotiations when he tries to protect the commonwealth.

 

"Mark has struggled in a hyper-partisan, polarized atmosphere," Beyer says. "To take that same centrist, what he calls ‘raging moderate,’ that kind of leadership to the Senate, doesn’t work as well here as it did in Governor of Virginia.”

 

The investigation could take months more, or even last more than year, which means Warner will remain in the spotlight for some time. Whether he can come out of it unscathed is yet to be seen.  

Related Content