Russian Hacking: Sen. John McCain Schedules Hearings on Russian Election-Related Hacking

John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has scheduled a hearing for Thursday on cyber threats. Russia's reported election-related hacking is expected to be the focus of the hearing, major news outlets, including CNN and Politico, reported Friday.

A source told Politico that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, National Security Agency and Cyber Command Chief Adm. Mike Rogers and Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Marcel Lettre will testify at the hearing.

News of the hearing comes just a day after President Obama announced new sanctions against Russia for its purported role in hacking, among others, the Democratic National Committee to try and influence and undermine the U.S. presidential election. As part of the sanctions, Obama declared 35 Russian "intelligence operatives" persona non grata, ordering them to leave the United States within 72 hours. The government also announced that it would be shutting down two Russian compounds, one on the eastern shore of Maryland and the other on Long Island's gold coast, that the Obama administration says the Russians used for intelligence-related purposes.

The Russians call these compounds "dacha" or summer house, saying they are used for recreational purposes.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday called for the removal of 31 employees of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and four diplomats from St. Petersburg to be removed from the country in a standard tit-for-tat move. However, President Vladimir Putin later announced that Russia would not be expelling any Americans from the country, banking on better relations with the U.S. when President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Putin even invited the children of diplomats to attend New Year's celebrations at the Kremlin.

“While we reserve the right to respond, we will not drop to this level of irresponsible diplomacy, and we will make further steps to help resurrect Russian-American relations based on the policies that the administration of Trump will pursue,” Putin said in a statement.

Trump is also scheduled to meet next week with leaders of the intelligence community to be updated on the situation. On Friday, he tweeted that Putin made a "great move," siding with Russia over the United States in the feud.

On Thursday, after the measured were announced, McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said they would push for even stronger sanctions against Russia. Previously, the two Republican senators had called for the creation of a Select Committee in Congress to investigate the alleged hacking.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pushed back against creating such a committee, saying the Senate intelligence panel was perfectly capable of handling the investigation.

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