House Intel Republicans Move Toward Public Release of Russia Report

Democrats will now have two days to add dissenting views to the roughly 250-page report, Texas Republican Mike Conaway said after the vote. The document will then be sent to the intelligence community for declassification review. Conaway said each paragraph in the report has already been marked classified or unclassified, and expressed hope that the report would be released to the public in coming weeks.

But Thursday’s vote was not without controversy, as has been the case for most Russia-related meetings on the panel.

The panel’s top Democrat Adam Schiff objected to ending the Russia probe 10 days ago, when Republicans released an outline of their draft report. He told reporters after the meeting Thursday that the GOP had rejected a number of motions offered by Democrats that would have represented a return to the probe.

“We had over a dozen motions,” he said, citing a motion to hold Steve Bannon in contempt, subpoena documents from Twitter and other organizations, as well as a motion to “express the will of the committee that the special counsel’s work go on unimpeded,” which he said were all voted down.

Schiff said Democrats also moved to conduct the meeting in open session and allow for the release of a transcript, as the panel has done for previous meetings related to a GOP memo alleging surveillance abuses.

“They clearly don’t want the transcript released,” he said. “They’re embarrassed about the shoddy nature of the work that they did, and the indefensible nature of their arguments against holding Steve Bannon in contempt or subpoenaing necessary records or witnesses.”

But Conaway told reporters that the meeting was closed because the report under discussion is classified. “What we did comports with the committee rules,” he said.

A Nunes spokesman told TWS, “Because it’s still a classified report, the meeting had to occur in a classified setting to discuss it, so there will be no transcript.”

In addition to the vote kick-starting declassification Thursday, committee Republicans released seven pages worth of findings and recommendations connected to the Russia probe. Conaway said that the still-classified report represents the “underpinning” or “narrative” behind those findings.

Republicans announced the completion of the Russia probe in mid-March and said that the panel found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. A one-page summary of their draft report also said that the committee agreed with a January 2017 intelligence community assessment, “except with respect to Putin’s supposed preference for candidate Trump.”

Conaway said Thursday that the panel took issue with the “tradecraft” underpinning that intelligence community conclusion, and that the final report would clarify that.

“We don’t believe they used proper tradecraft,” he said. “That’s all we said in the report. There was a line in those talking points that just shouldn’t have been there. That was my mistake.”

One of the findings released Thursday by the panel reads: “The Intelligence Community Assessment judgements on Putin’s strategic intentions did not employ proper analytic tradecraft.”

The intelligence community assessed that Russia waged an influence campaign and sought to undermine faith in the democratic process and denigrate then-candidate Clinton, with a “clear preference for President-elect Trump.”

Schiff described the Republicans’ report as a “moving target” and said that the GOP has “altered key findings” since providing the document to Democrats 10 days ago. “It shows the fundamental unseriousness of their endeavor,” he said.

He said that Democrats will continue their investigative work, and will pressure Republicans to release witness transcripts from Russia probe-related interviews.

In the findings released Thursday, committee Republicans criticized the intelligence community and executive branch over their response to Russian cyber activity. They listed the FBI’s notification to hacking victims which the committee said was “largely inadequate” and described as “ineffective” a statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security attributing the interference to Russia.

Committee Republicans also reiterated an assertion contained in their controversial memo that a dossier compiled by ex-spy Christopher Steele “formed an essential part” of a surveillance application needed to monitor former Trump adviser Carter Page.

The findings also elaborate on leaks of classified information:

“Leaks of classified information alleging Russian intentions to help elect candidate Trump increased dramatically after the election day.”

“The leaks prior to the classified Intelligence Community Assessment’s publication, particularly leaks occurring after the U.S. presidential election, correlate to specific language found in the Intelligence Community Assessment.”

And, “Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, now a CNN national security analyst, provided inconsistent testimony to the Committee about his contacts with the media, including CNN.”

In relation to the panel’s investigation into the nature of any links between the Kremlin and the Trump team, the findings say, in part:

• “When asked directly, none of the interviewed witnesses provided evidence of collusion, coordination, or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.”

• “General Flynn pleaded guilty to making a false statement to the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding his December 2016 conversations with Ambassador Kislyak, even though the Federal Bureau of Investigation agents did not detect any deception during Flynn’s interview.”

• “The committee found no evidence that President Trump’s pre-campaign business dealings formed the basis for collusion during the campaign.”

• “The change in the Republican Party platform regarding Ukraine resulted in a stronger position against Russia, not a weaker one, and there is no evidence that Paul Manafort was involved.”

• “Carter Page did not travel to Moscow in July 2016 on behalf of the Trump campaign but the Committee is concerned about his seemingly incomplete accounts of his activity in Moscow.”