Republicans in the House Intelligence Committee have shut down the panel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, claiming that “there was no collusion found.”
Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), the top Republican leading the probe, told reporters on Monday that Intel Committee will interview no more witnesses and that Republicans are in the process of preparing their final report, according to The Hill.
A draft of that roughly 150-page report will be delivered to committee Democrats for review on Tuesday, Conaway said.
The draft document asserts that there is no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians, the most politically charged question examined by the committee. It will also contradict an official U.S. intelligence community assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin showed a “preference” for candidate Donald Trump during the election — another assertion that has been disputed by the president.
“We found no evidence of collusion,” Conaway said Monday. “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 suggested that, despite all the evidence, the CIA was wrong in their conclusion that “Russia specifically wanted to help Trump.”
He declined to set a timeline for the public release of the House report, which must first be sent back to the intelligence community to be scrubbed for classified information.
The Texas Republican said the report would not be shared with the Senate Intelligence Committee before publication.
