House Republicans: No Collusion Between Trump Campaign and Moscow

Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee announced that their investigation into Russia and the 2016 election is concluding. Republican representatives stated that they found no evidence of collusion between Donald Trump's campaign and Moscow. According to a statement provided to reporters on March 12, Republicans agree that Russia attempted to influence the U.S. elections by spreading advertisements and fake news on social media. However, members of the party in the House disagree with the findings of the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, and Federal Bureau of Investigation, which indicated that Moscow sought to 'assist Trump' in defeating his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, in the 2016 presidential election. U.S. intelligence agencies released their findings in January 2017, stating that Russia tried to affect the presidential election results in favor of Donald Trump through actions such as hacking the emails of senior Democratic Party officials and disseminating fake news and biased advertisements on social media. Mike Conway, a Republican representative, stated that interviews have concluded and representatives are preparing a draft report. Conway said, 'We are not into storytelling. We are facing reality, and we found no evidence of collusion.' The Republicans' statement regarding the House Intelligence Committee's findings has faced reactions. Donald Trump, the President of the United States, tweeted that the House Intelligence Committee, after 14 months of extensive and deep investigations, concluded that there is no evidence of collusion or interactions between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election. On the other hand, Adam Schiff, a senior Democratic representative on the committee, disagreed and stated that the announcement of the conclusion of investigations was premature. Schiff said, 'History will judge them harshly for this action.' A spokesperson for the U.S. intelligence community also stated that the relevant agencies still support the assessment released in January 2017. In addition to investigations by committees in the U.S. Congress, a special counsel and a separate panel of investigators are also conducting investigations into the allegations against Russia. Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed by the U.S. Department of Justice last year to conduct the investigations. The Russian government has consistently denied the allegations against it. Donald Trump has also repeatedly emphasized that there was no collusion between his campaign and Russian agents; he has denied reports regarding attempts to obstruct Robert Mueller's investigations.