Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, has doubled down on his accusations that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016 Presidential election.
“Undoubtedly, there is collusion,” he told the Washington Post in an exclusive interview this week. “We will continue to investigate the counterintelligence issues. That is, is the President or people around him compromised in any way by a hostile foreign power?”
“It doesn’t appear that was any part of Mueller’s report,” he added.
“Undoubtedly there is collusion,” Adam Schiff said. “We will continue to investigate the counterintelligence issues. That is, is the president or people around him compromised? … It doesn’t appear that was any part of Mueller’s report.” https://t.co/q5Ezabk074
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 27, 2019
Special Counselor Robert Mueller late Friday filed his long-awaited report on whether or not President Donald Trump, or anyone associated with the Trump Presidential campaign, colluded with Russia in 2016, and whether or not Russia interfered in the 2016 Presidential election. Mueller had been investigating Trump-Russia ties for nearly two years.
Earlier this week, Schiff faced calls to step down from multiple people, including the White House advisor and counselor to President Trump, Kellyanne Conway, who appeared on Fox & Friends Monday with choice words for Schiff.
“Talk about an oxymoron,” she said. “This man heads the Intelligence Committee in the House. He said he believed that the [alleged Trump-Russia] scandal was of the size and scope probably bigger than Watergate, and there was plenty of evidence of collusion. He oughta resign today. He’s been on every TV show 50 times a day for practically the last two years, promising Americans that this President would be impeached or indicted.”
The Mueller report was reviewed by Attorney General William Barr over the weekend, and Barr released an initial, brief report on Mueller’s findings on Sunday afternoon.
“… The Special Counsel did not find that the Trump campaign, or anyone associated with it, conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in these efforts, despite multiple offers from Russian-affiliated individuals to assist the Trump campaign,” Barr said in his letter.
“As the [Mueller] report states: “[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” he pointed out.
“The Special Counsel states that ‘while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,’” Barr noted.
“Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and I have concluded that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel’s investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense,” he added.
Mueller is said to be resigning in the coming days.
Schiff and the House Intelligence Committee have begun their own investigation into President Trump, earlier this year requesting documents from 81 individuals, agencies or entities – many among President Donald Trump’s inner circle – as part of a broad investigation into the President and any potential Constitutional abuses or corruption.
The Democratic-led committee has requested documents from two of the President’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump; his son-in-law Jared Kushner; as well as the White House, Department of Justice, FBI, Wikileaks and many others. The White House has since denied the committee’s request.
The requests are said to help to committee probe three different topics, according to Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler: “Obstruction of justice, including the potential interference by the President into criminal investigations; public corruption, including violations of the emoluments clause; and abuses of power, including attacks on the free press, the judiciary and law enforcement agencies.”
