Final House Intelligence Committee report on Russia defends Trump
WASHINGTON ― The Republican-controlled House intelligence committee released its final report on Russian interference in the 2016 election Friday morning, arguing it found no evidence of collusion between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Moscow and prompting immediate recriminations from Democrats.
Citing interviews, reviews of documents and other investigative steps, the 253-page document states that “the Committee did not find any evidence of collusion, conspiracy, or coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russians.”
“While the Committee found that several of the contacts between Trump associates and Russians ― or their proxies, including Wikileaks ― were ill-advised, the Committee did not determine that Trump or anyone associated with him assisted Russia’s active measures campaign,” the report says.
The report’s authors attempt to equate the actions of the Trump and Clinton campaigns, faulting both for “poor judgment and ill-considered actions.” When, for instance, they criticize Trump campaign links to WikiLeaks and a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Russians who claimed to have damaging information on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and members of the Trump campaign, they try to balance that out with criticism of Clinton associates who paid former British spy Christopher Steele to investigate Trump-Russia links.
The document also bashes Obama administration officials for failing to alert the Trump campaign to counterintelligence investigations during election season, particularly of pro-Russia Trump adviser Carter Page.
More on the dossier:
“Throughout the investigation, Committee Republicans chose not to seriously investigate — or even see, when in plain sight — evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, instead adopting the role of defense counsel for key investigation witnesses,” Schiff said. He added that Republicans did not allow the panel to interview all witnesses it sought to before formally ending the probe last month.
He said the Democratic minority on the panel is continuing to investigate and received new materials from a witness just this week.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
