President Trump reveled in the conclusion from Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee that they found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin during the 2016 election.
“THE HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE HAS, AFTER A 14 MONTH LONG IN-DEPTH INVESTIGATION, FOUND NO EVIDENCE OF COLLUSION OR COORDINATION BETWEEN THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN AND RUSSIA TO INFLUENCE THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION,” Trump tweeted on Monday evening.
THE HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE HAS, AFTER A 14 MONTH LONG IN-DEPTH INVESTIGATION, FOUND NO EVIDENCE OF COLLUSION OR COORDINATION BETWEEN THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN AND RUSSIA TO INFLUENCE THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 13, 2018
The committee interviewed more than 70 witnesses as part of the investigation, the last one being Trump former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski last week.
Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, who has spearheaded the investigation, told reporters Monday afternoon there were examples of bad judgment, but no collusion.
“We found no evidence of collusion,” he told reporters on Monday during a briefing. “We found perhaps some bad judgment, inappropriate meetings, inappropriate judgment in taking meetings — but 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.”
Conaway also said Republicans on the panel believe Russians meddled in the 2016 election, but disagree with past U.S. intelligence reports that claim Russian interference favored Trump.
“The bottom line: The Russians did commit active measures against our election in ’16, and we think they will do that in the future,” Conaway said, noting, “We disagree with the narrative that they were trying to help Trump.”
Meanwhile, Democrats have slammed Republicans for ending the probe.
“While the majority members of our committee have indicated for some time that they have been under great pressure to end the investigation, it is nonetheless another tragic milestone for this Congress, and represents yet another capitulation to the executive branch,” ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said in a statement Monday evening.
Democrats will receive 150-page draft report on Tuesday for their review and comment, Conaway said.
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s and the Senate Intelligence Committee’s Russia probes are still ongoing to investigate possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Trump has historically called Mueller’s probe a “witch hunt” and, in light of the Russian indictments, has continued to reiterate that “no collusion” ever happened.
