In totally unsurprising news, House Republicans investigating Russia's suspected meddling in the 2016 election say there is not enough evidence to prove that Russians colluded with Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, who led the House Intelligence Committee's investigation into Russia's involvement with Trump's campaign affiliates during the 2016 presidential election, announced they had completed an extensive 150-page report with findings that did not concretely prove collusion. “We have found no evidence of collusion, coordination, or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians,” the committee said in a statement Monday, according to The Hill. “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.”
Furthermore, Conway claims, “we couldn’t establish the same conclusion that the CIA did that [the Russians] specifically wanted to help Trump.”
Rep. Adam Schiff, a top Democrat on the committee, immediately shamed the Republicans' decision to end the investigation. "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," Schiff said in a statement. "By ending its oversight role in the only authorized investigation in the House, the Majority has placed the interests of protecting the President over protecting the country, and history will judge its actions harshly."
The committee's Russia investigation was as lengthy as it was detailed. It included more than 73 interviews with key witnesses including Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon, and the review of 300,000 pages of documents. But Democrats have maintained that Republicans have allowed witnesses to selectively answer questions.
The Senate Intelligence and Judiciary committees are still investigating Russia's alleged 2016 election interference, and Robert Mueller's probe shows no signs of ending anytime soon. However, Republicans have made it clear that they feel Democrats are trying to prolong the Russia probe until the campaign season. "To me, I don't see anything else that's out there that hasn't been explored," New York Rep. Pete King,, told CNN last week.
Rep. Schiff begs to differ. "There are a number of steps that I think any credible investigator would say, 'These need to be done,' and we still hope that they will be."
One person who was thrilled by Trump's exoneration was—you guessed—Trump himself.
It looks like someone learned how to use Caps Lock.
