Finding no collusion or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 campaign, Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee wrote their final report, prompting objections by House Intelligence Committee Co-Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), “We found no evidence of collusion,” said Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), saying an explanation otherwise is pure fiction. Schiff insists that Republican Co-Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) prevented Democrats from subpoenaing bank account, cell phone and other records pertinent to the investigation. Conaway insists that the Committee ended interviewing witnesses, with no plans other that wrapping up the investigation with a final report saying no collusion or coordination was found. Conaway said the Trump campaign was guilty of bad judgment at times but not Russian collusion.
With the Midterm elections heating up, Conaway said the Party’s focus ought to be on defending majorities in the House and Senate, not bogged down on investigations that found no evidence of collusion in 14 months. Conaway implied that Democrats on the Committee wanted to keep the investigation going only to besmirch Republicans, especially the Trump administration, before the Midterm elections. “We found perhaps some bad judgment, inappropriate meetings, inappropriate judgment taking meetings . . . “ said Conaway but any other more malign interpretations in reading too much into the evidence found by the Committee. President Donald Trump responded quickly, tweeting that the House Intelligence Committee found no evidence of collusion or coordination after 14 months of investigations, exonerating his campaign.
Trump’s tweet infuriated Schiff who wanted to continue the Intel Committee’s investigation until Special Counsel Robert Mueller finished his probe. Unlike Mueller that examines criminal activity, the Intel Committee only has oversight capacity to make recommendations to the Justice Department. “THE HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE HAS AFTER A 14-TH MONTH LONG IN-DEPTH INVESTIGATION, FOUND NO EVIDENCE OF COLLUSION OR COORDINATION BETWEEN THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN AND RUSSIA TO INFLUENCE THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN,” tweeted Trump. Conway said the Intel Committee disagrees with a National Intelligence report issued in Jan. 2017, only days before Trump’s inauguration, saying that Russia influenced the outcome of the 2016 election to help Trump.
Conaway said the Intel Committee found no evidence that Russia meddled in the 2016 election, despite having a clear preference for Trump, releasing hacked emails that damaged the campaign of former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Calling the GOP’s report a “tragic milestone,” Schiff blamed Republicans like Conway for wrapping the investigation up prematurely. Republicans say exactly the opposite. Too much time has elapsed producing no evidence of Trump collusion or coordination to keep the investigation going. One thing the GOP’s report won’t say is that the Obama administration helped the Hillary campaign by using the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [FISA] Court to wiretap key Trump campaign officials, including Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions. Conaway will only say the Obama White House could have done more to stop Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign.
Conaway said the report will talk about how the Hillary campaign’s paid opposition research against Trump AKA “the dossier,” tried to influence the Obama Justice Department, FBI and National Security Agency on the need to wiretap Trump campaign officials. Schiff concluded in a rebuttal memo Feb. 24 that the Justice Department, FBI and National Security Agency did nothing wrong wiretapping Trump campaign officials, like former aid Carter Page, despite the FBI relying heavily on “the dossier” to get the warrants. Republicans on the Intel Committee wanted to conclude the investigation based on a lack of evidence. Schiff wanted to continue gathering evidence after 14-months turned did not turn up enough evidence to prove collusion or coordination. Republicans concluded that the probe had become so partisan there was no point to continuing the probe.
With the Senate Judiciary and Senate Intelligence committees poised to complete their own reports, it’s up to Special Counsel Robert Mueller to either find collusion or wrap up his investigation. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions is under pressure from the GOP to appoint a new Special Counsel to look into the Obama administration’s FBI, Justice Department and National Security Agency’s abuses of the FISA Court to wiretap the Trump campaign. Democrats on the House Intel Committee led by Schiff find nothing wrong with the Obama administration coordinating with Hillary campaign to use the FISA Court to discredit the Trump campaign. Schiff wants the investigation to continue through the Midterm elections to give Democrats the best chance of taking back the House and Senate. Nunes and other Republicans on the House Intel panel saw too much partisanship to continue.
