House inquiry finds no collusion

But Trump campaign had ‘poor judgment’ in dealing with Russians

WASHINGTON – The House Intelligence Committee released a final report on its Russia investigation Friday that criticized the Trump campaign for “poor judgment and ill-conceived actions” in dealing with the Russians.

But the 243-page report released by the Republican majority Friday concluded there is no evidence the campaign colluded with the Kremlin to influence the 2016 election.

The report cited as “poor judgment” the June 2016 meeting at the Trump Tower in New York between members of the Trump campaign – including Donald Trump Jr.; Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law; and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort – and a Russian attorney “who falsely purported to have damaging information on the Clinton campaign.”

“The Committee also found the Trump campaign’s periodic praise for and communications with Wikileaks – a hostile foreign organization – to be highly objectionable and inconsistent with U.S. national security interests,” the report said.

Still, the GOP committee members found that “none of the interviewed witnesses provided evidence of collusion, coordination, or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.”

President Donald Trump hailed the report, tweeting that the “witch hunt” of the Russia investigation “must end now!”

Probes are continuing in the Senate, and most importantly, special counsel Robert Mueller is continuing his Russia investigation on behalf of the Department of Justice.

Democrats on the intelligence committee charged that their Republican colleagues ignored evidence of collusion in order to protect Trump.

“Committee Republicans chose not to seriously investigate – or even see, when in plain sight – evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, instead adopting the role of defense counsel for key investigation witnesses,” said Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the panel’s senior Democrat.