The Democratic-aligned Center for American Progress organization claimed Thursday the Republican-led House Intelligence Committee did not try hard enough to find proof of collusion between President Trump and Russia during its yearlong investigation.
The group’s Moscow Project issued a report that cites “at least 70 contacts between Trump’s team and Russia linked operatives, including at least 22 meetings.”
The study found 57 of those contacts took place leading up to Election Day and only 13 happened during the transition period when the president-elect’s team is expected to begin establishing relationships with foreign leaders.
Due to federal and congressional investigations into possible collusion between Trump and Russia to win the election, the Trump campaign’s pre-election contacts with the foreign adversary have come under significant scrutiny.
CAP also alleged “22 high-ranking campaign officials and Trump advisers were aware of contacts” with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential campaign and transition, yet all of the contacts were not reported to government officials.
“Instead, the Trump team tried to cover up every single one of them. Why were there so many meetings? What was discussed in them? More importantly, why did Trump and his camp lie about them, including to federal law enforcement? What are they hiding?” the report’s introduction asked before listing details of the previously mentioned alleged incidents.
CAP said their report is supported by one that was issued by the U.S. Intelligence community two weeks before Trump was sworn into office, which indicates the Russian government was engrossed in a separate campaign to affect the election.
The group slammed the House Intel probe for not interviewing individuals involved in 60 percent of the contacts.
The House intelligence panel is scheduled to vote Thursday to formally conclude its investigation. Democrats on the committee have argued the probe is being prematurely shut down and that their conservative colleagues did not interview 30 other people who should have been brought before the panel, including Cambridge Analytica officials.
Among the group’s biggest concerns are what they said was a lack of follow-up regarding documents about Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskay’s meeting with Trump campaign officials at Trump Tower in New York City in June 2016.
The investigation was launched last March 1, while the Senate Intelligence Committee commenced its own probe Jan. 10, 2017.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and the Justice Department’s special counsel investigations are also taking place at this time.
On March 6, House intel member, Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, said the committee had failed to find any evidence of illegal or improper actions between Trump and the Russians in the 2016 election.
“I think it’s gone about as far as we can, but that’s not for me to decide,” King told CNN. “I would say, to me, I don’t see anything else out there that hasn’t been explored. I think the Senate is pretty much on the same page.”
