GOP, Dems release dueling reports on meddling assistance

WASHINGTON — Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee found no evidence that the Trump campaign aided Russia’s election meddling, the lawmakers concluded in a 250-page report released Friday.

But in a dissenting document, Democrats on the committee accused the Republicans of prematurely closing the investigation out of a desire to protect President Donald Trump.

The president seized on the Republicans’ findings, extolling the conclusions on Twitter and calling the inquiries “A total Witch Hunt!”

“MUST END NOW!” he added.

Trump said he was “honored” by the report, calling it “totally conclusive” proof that his campaign had not worked with Russia to sway the presidential election.

But even Republicans did not entirely spare Trump’s campaign.

“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.

Republicans criticized the Obama administration for a “slow and inconsistent” response to Russia’s active measures. They faulted the FBI for its “largely inadequate” notification of victims of Russian hacking and for its surveillance of a former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page.

And they admonished Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee for hiring Fusion GPS, a research firm, to investigate ties between Trump associates and Russia.

Democrats were unsparing in their criticism of the Republican report, describing an investigation in which witnesses were viewed without skepticism, key testimony taken at face value and important threads of inquiry left unpursued.

The Republican analysis, they argue, was riddled with “often risible attempts to explain away inconvenient truths discovered in the course of the committee’s investigation.”

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 and the Senate Intelligence Committee inquiry are continuing.