One of the reasons why Russia was able to meddle in the 2016 election was the failure of the Obama administration to do anything significant about it, according to Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee.
Republicans said Monday that they’ve completed their investigation into Russia’s meddling, and have prepared a draft report that’s more than 150 pages long, which will be shown to Democrats on Tuesday.
But one of the findings of the report is that the Obama administration had a “lackluster pre-election response to Russian active measures,” according to a one-page summary of the report.
The report also backed President Trump’s claim that there was “no collusion” between his campaign and Russia, and that Russia didn’t prefer Trump over his opponent, Hillary Clinton. But it also had other problems with how Democrats and the media were involved, aside from former President Barack Obama’s failure to take any steps against Russia.
For example, the report goes into how anti-Trump research “made its way from Russian sources to the Clinton campaign.” It also detailed “problematic contacts between senior Intelligence Community officials and the media.”
Republicans have long questioned how the press was able to get information about Russia’s campaign efforts from intelligence officials.
After Democrats review the report and comment, it will go through a declassification process to eventually be made public. The probe is being led by Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas.
The report also contains more than 25 recommendations for Congress and the Trump administration to enhance election security and the government’s response to cyberattacks, as well as “counterintelligence practices related to political campaigns and unauthorized disclosures.”
The panel has interviewed more than 50 people, including former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski just last week, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and former senior strategist Steve Bannon.
The Senate Intelligence and Judiciary committees still have ongoing investigations into Russian meddling in 2016, as does special counsel Robert Mueller.
