WASHINGTON — Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee found no evidence during a monthslong investigation that the Trump campaign aided Russia’s election meddling, the lawmakers concluded in a 250-page report released on Friday that assails President Trump’s political rivals and criticizes the F.B.I. and the intelligence community for their responses to Moscow’s interference.
In their own dissenting views, Democrats on the committee accused the Republicans of prematurely closing the investigation out of a desire to protect Mr. Trump and asserted that eagerness by Trump campaign associates to accept offers of Russian assistance suggest “a consciousness of wrongfulness, if not illegality.”
The strikingly divergent conclusions closed a chapter for a congressional committee that, while charged with oversight of American spy agencies, has fractured into warring factions that often seemed to see the advancement of political agendas as their primary mission.
In the charged political climate that has engulfed Washington, the report — the first out of several government investigations into Russia’s interference — is certain to serve as a useful political tool for Mr. Trump and his allies. The president quickly seized on the Republicans’ findings, touting the conclusions on Twitter and calling the inquiries “A total Witch Hunt! MUST END NOW!.”
Republicans do not entirely spare Mr. Trump’s campaign, but their criticisms are in most cases limited to bad judgment.
“While the committee found that several of the contacts between Trump associates and Russians — or their proxies, including WikiLeaks — were ill-advised, the committee did not determine that Trump or anyone associated with him assisted Russia’s active measures campaign,” the Republicans wrote.
They trained their fire more sharply on Democrats and other perceived opponents of Mr. Trump. Republicans dinged the Obama administration for a “slow and inconsistent” response to Russia’s active measures. And they admonished the campaign of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee for hiring Fusion GPS, a research firm, to investigate ties between Trump associates and Russia.
The firm in turn hired Christopher Steele, a former British spy, who produced a salacious dossier outlining a conspiracy between the campaign and the Russians.
Republicans had released key findings from the report in March. The full report, heavily blacked out in parts by American intelligence agencies, includes recommendations on issues as diverse as cyber and election security and a recommendation that the executive branch consider administering mandatory polygraph tests to political appointees with top-secret security clearances who are not confirmed by the Senate.
Though they absolved the Trump campaign, the Republicans warned that the government of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia would be back without significant deterrence efforts.
“Unless the cost-benefit equation of such operations changes significantly, the Putin regime and other hostile governments will continue to pursue these attacks against the United States and its allies,” they wrote.
The investigation was one of several by the government into Russian election interference and possible ties to the Trump campaign. The Justice Department’s special counsel investigation is continuing, and the Senate Intelligence Committee is moving forward in its own inquiry.
But the House investigation was from the beginning buffeted by politics.
Representative Devin Nunes, the California Republican who leads the committee, became a reliable ally for Mr. Trump who engaged in attempts to pin blame on Obama administration officials and so-called deep state bureaucrats to undermine Mr. Trump.
Republicans blamed their political opponents, especially Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the committee’s top Democrat, for launching a partisan crusade against the White House and for too often litigating the committee’s internal disputes during national television appearances.
During open hearings, Republicans on the committee often seemed more interested in pursing leaks to the press than investigating Russia’s widespread efforts to sabotage the American election.
Source : Nytimes
