https://www.politico.com/story/2018...o-release-trump-russia-report-479406?lo=ap_a1
House Intelligence Committee Republicans voted Thursday to end their investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, declaring that a string of contacts between Donald Trump's associates and Russian government affiliates fell short of collusion and recommending dramatic new steps to crack down on intelligence leaks.
In a summary of their findings, committee Republicans cataloged a string of meetings between Trump associates — from Donald Trump Jr.'s run-in with a Russian government official at a 2016 National Rifle Association event to what the report called "possible" attempts by Moscow to set up a back channel with Trump's transition team after the election.
The committee dinged Carter Page, a Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, for providing an "incomplete" account of his July 2016 trip to Moscow, which drew FBI investigators' interest. And the report said Trump associates had "ill-advised" contacts with WikiLeaks, the online platform that intelligence agencies say aided Russia's attempt to disseminate hacked Democratic Party and Clinton campaign emails.
But in each case, the report's Republican authors concluded that the evidence failed to amount to active cooperation between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. In some cases, they said the evidence undermined claims by the president's opponents that his campaign may have colluded with Moscow to win the 2016 election.
House Intelligence Committee Republicans voted Thursday to end their investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, declaring that a string of contacts between Donald Trump's associates and Russian government affiliates fell short of collusion and recommending dramatic new steps to crack down on intelligence leaks.
In a summary of their findings, committee Republicans cataloged a string of meetings between Trump associates — from Donald Trump Jr.'s run-in with a Russian government official at a 2016 National Rifle Association event to what the report called "possible" attempts by Moscow to set up a back channel with Trump's transition team after the election.
The committee dinged Carter Page, a Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, for providing an "incomplete" account of his July 2016 trip to Moscow, which drew FBI investigators' interest. And the report said Trump associates had "ill-advised" contacts with WikiLeaks, the online platform that intelligence agencies say aided Russia's attempt to disseminate hacked Democratic Party and Clinton campaign emails.
But in each case, the report's Republican authors concluded that the evidence failed to amount to active cooperation between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. In some cases, they said the evidence undermined claims by the president's opponents that his campaign may have colluded with Moscow to win the 2016 election.
