Tag: Russia probe

GOP House Intelligence Committee: What collusion?

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

The committee’s statement on Monday, however, went beyond just absolving the Trump campaign of any suspected collusion with Moscow, even going so far as to dispute the U.S. Intelligence Community’s findings that Russia had preferred a Trump presidency to that of Hillary Clinton. The statement also added that the Clinton campaign had obtained “anti-Trump research” from Russian sources, an apparent nod to the disputed Steele memo.

The draft report will now likely go to the minority staff on the committee, currently led by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA). However, it remains possible — or likely — that the Democrats will push to release a second, competing report. Democrats have complained that a number of key witnesses still have not been interviewed by the committee, and that Republicans on the committee didn’t bother to use subpoenas in order to obtain pertinent information.

Mueller’s new indictment of Manafort and Gates debunks White House talking points
Further, Republicans cut short the witness interview portion of the investigation — something Schiff only learned of on Monday afternoon. Among the witnesses who were reportedly not called before the committee were Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chair, and Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser. Both Manafort and Flynn have been targeted by the special counsel’s office for dissembling about their ties to pro-Russian operatives, as has former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos — another individual the committee didn’t interview.