AP, Washington :
House Intelligence Committee Republicans closed their investigation of Russian election interference Monday, declaring they found no evidence that President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign cooperated with the Kremlin, a conclusion Trump quickly celebrated – but which Democrats called premature and even misleading.
The House Republicans also said that a 150-page report they prepared – without consulting their Democratic colleagues – contradicts the U.S. intelligence community’s firm conclusion that the goal of the Russian government effort was to boost Trump’s campaign.
“We don’t think that’s supported by the underlying data,” Texas Rep. Mike Conaway, the Republican leading the probe, said in a phone interview. Conaway told reporters Monday that some Trump campaign figures may have shown bad judgment in meeting with Kremlin-linked figures but that the meetings had not amounted to collusion.
Conaway said dozens of interview and an exhaustive review of the intelligence agencies’ findings suggests the Russian goal was to sow confusion and discord, not to help Trump. He added that a second report on that specific issue would be forthcoming.
Trump is sure to welcome that opinion as well. He is said to resent suggestions that Russian meddling might undermine the legitimacy of his election. And he has insisted the Kremlin would have no reason to root for his victory, despite the fact that Trump repeatedly spoke of befriending Russian President Vladimir Putin and repairing fractured U.S.-Russia relations.
Russia’s embassy in Washington celebrated the House GOP findings on Twitter by directly quoting Conaway: “All ‘Russia investigations’ (not only in the US) are destined to end as [Conaway] brilliantly concluded: ‘only Tom Clancy could take this series of inadvertent contacts, meetings, whatever, and weave that into some sort of a spy thriller that could go out there.'”
Democrats said Monday that the House GOP’s conclusion adds new urgency to the ongoing investigation of special counsel Robert Mueller. But the Republican conclusion could provide Trump with more ammunition to attack Mueller’s probe, which the president has called a “witch hunt.”
Mueller’s last set of indictments, filed last month against 13 Russian nationals accused of manipulating U.S. social media and staging political rallies during the 2016 campaign, asserted that the Russians sought not only to disparage Hillary Clinton but to assist Trump. The Russians worked for an internet “troll factory” funded by a well-known ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Democrats erupted in anger after they were blindsided by a summary report released by committee Republicans. They said it confirmed their long-standing view – bolstered by a recent secret Republican memo alleging anti-Trump bias on the part of Justice Department and FBI officials – that House Republicans were more interested in covering for the president than in an exhaustive public account of Russia’s political meddling.
“By ending its oversight role in the only authorized investigation in the House, the majority has placed the interests of protecting the president over protecting the country, and history will judge its actions harshly,” said California Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the committee.
In an interview on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show”, Schiff said that Democrats on the committee would continue to conduct research independently, though they lack the power to compel witnesses through subpoena.
The report’s contradiction of the U.S. intelligence community’s finding is likely to further inflame tensions between Trump supporters and intelligence officials accused of representing an anti-Trump “deep state.”
It includes what Conaway told POLITICO was “almost a man-year’s worth of work” in reviewing the intelligence community’s findings about Russian election interference. But he did not offer any specific details Monday about why he believes the intelligence conclusion – that the Kremlin, after initially setting out to undermine Clinton, came to work on behalf of Trump’s campaign – was mistaken.
“We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election,” stated the October 2016 report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI, the CIA and the NSA.
“Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump. We have high confidence in these judgments,” the report stated.
At the start of the House Intelligence Committee’s probe, its chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) pursued still-unsubstantiated allegations that Obama administration officials mishandled classified surveillance of Trump associates. Democrats charged that Nunes’s real goal was to undermine the credibility of charges that Trump or his associates might have been influenced by the Kremlin
House Intelligence Committee Republicans closed their investigation of Russian election interference Monday, declaring they found no evidence that President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign cooperated with the Kremlin, a conclusion Trump quickly celebrated – but which Democrats called premature and even misleading.
The House Republicans also said that a 150-page report they prepared – without consulting their Democratic colleagues – contradicts the U.S. intelligence community’s firm conclusion that the goal of the Russian government effort was to boost Trump’s campaign.
“We don’t think that’s supported by the underlying data,” Texas Rep. Mike Conaway, the Republican leading the probe, said in a phone interview. Conaway told reporters Monday that some Trump campaign figures may have shown bad judgment in meeting with Kremlin-linked figures but that the meetings had not amounted to collusion.
Conaway said dozens of interview and an exhaustive review of the intelligence agencies’ findings suggests the Russian goal was to sow confusion and discord, not to help Trump. He added that a second report on that specific issue would be forthcoming.
Trump is sure to welcome that opinion as well. He is said to resent suggestions that Russian meddling might undermine the legitimacy of his election. And he has insisted the Kremlin would have no reason to root for his victory, despite the fact that Trump repeatedly spoke of befriending Russian President Vladimir Putin and repairing fractured U.S.-Russia relations.
Russia’s embassy in Washington celebrated the House GOP findings on Twitter by directly quoting Conaway: “All ‘Russia investigations’ (not only in the US) are destined to end as [Conaway] brilliantly concluded: ‘only Tom Clancy could take this series of inadvertent contacts, meetings, whatever, and weave that into some sort of a spy thriller that could go out there.'”
Democrats said Monday that the House GOP’s conclusion adds new urgency to the ongoing investigation of special counsel Robert Mueller. But the Republican conclusion could provide Trump with more ammunition to attack Mueller’s probe, which the president has called a “witch hunt.”
Mueller’s last set of indictments, filed last month against 13 Russian nationals accused of manipulating U.S. social media and staging political rallies during the 2016 campaign, asserted that the Russians sought not only to disparage Hillary Clinton but to assist Trump. The Russians worked for an internet “troll factory” funded by a well-known ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Democrats erupted in anger after they were blindsided by a summary report released by committee Republicans. They said it confirmed their long-standing view – bolstered by a recent secret Republican memo alleging anti-Trump bias on the part of Justice Department and FBI officials – that House Republicans were more interested in covering for the president than in an exhaustive public account of Russia’s political meddling.
“By ending its oversight role in the only authorized investigation in the House, the majority has placed the interests of protecting the president over protecting the country, and history will judge its actions harshly,” said California Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the committee.
In an interview on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show”, Schiff said that Democrats on the committee would continue to conduct research independently, though they lack the power to compel witnesses through subpoena.
The report’s contradiction of the U.S. intelligence community’s finding is likely to further inflame tensions between Trump supporters and intelligence officials accused of representing an anti-Trump “deep state.”
It includes what Conaway told POLITICO was “almost a man-year’s worth of work” in reviewing the intelligence community’s findings about Russian election interference. But he did not offer any specific details Monday about why he believes the intelligence conclusion – that the Kremlin, after initially setting out to undermine Clinton, came to work on behalf of Trump’s campaign – was mistaken.
“We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election,” stated the October 2016 report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI, the CIA and the NSA.
“Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump. We have high confidence in these judgments,” the report stated.
At the start of the House Intelligence Committee’s probe, its chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) pursued still-unsubstantiated allegations that Obama administration officials mishandled classified surveillance of Trump associates. Democrats charged that Nunes’s real goal was to undermine the credibility of charges that Trump or his associates might have been influenced by the Kremlin
