House Intel finds “no evidence” of Trump campaign collusion, but cites “poor judgment”

The House Intelligence Committee on Friday released a redacted, Republican-drafted report summarizing the committee’s findings from a year-long investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. The report was accompanied by the Democrats’ dissenting minority views.

The 253-page report found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, but did cite “poor judgment” and “ill-considered actions.”

“While the committee found no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded, coordinated, or conspired with the Russian government, the investigation did find poor judgment and ill-considered actions by the Trump and Clinton campaigns,” the report concluded.

Read the full report here

The report’s release comes just over a month after the committee voted, along party lines, to make it public, and following a declassification review by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Chief among the report’s findings, which Republicans previewed in a summary last month, and the president subsequently highlighted in an all-caps tweet, was that the committee’s Republicans had found no evidence of collusion, coordination or conspiracy between Russia and members of the Trump campaign. Democrats deemed that conclusion premature.

“Today, HPSCI is able to release a declassified version of our report on the Russia Investigation,” said Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, who has led the probe for the past year, in a statement. “With the public release of this report, the American people will have the opportunity to access the information used to draw the conclusions found in last month’s findings and recommendations.”

“However, I am extremely disappointed with the overzealous redactions made by the IC,” Conaway added. “Many of the redactions include information that is publicly available, such as witness names and information previously declassified. When we started this investigation, we set out to give the American people the answers to the questions they’ve been asking and we promised to be as transparent as possible in our final report. I don’t believe the information we’re releasing today meets that standard, which is why my team and I will continue to challenge the IC’s many unnecessary redactions with the hopes of releasing more of the report in the coming months.”

The previously released summary also took issue with analysis underlying the January 6, 2017, “Intelligence Community Assessment of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions,” which the preview said “did not employ proper analytic tradecraft.” 

Last month, Mr. Trump took the summary as vindication.

The weeks following the conclusion of the committee’s Russia investigation last month have been, as regards the committee, uncharacteristically quiet. Months of partisan discord over the substance and trajectory of the probe generated numerous headlines over the course of the investigation. 

This is a developing story and will be updated.