House intel committee formally closes Russia election-meddling probe

The House Intelligence Committee voted Thursday along party lines to formally end its more than yearlong investigation into Russian election meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Pending declassification by the intelligence community, Republican committee members will soon release their version of the panel’s Russia probe report which found “no evidence of collusion, coordination or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians.”

The report, which also disagreed with the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that the Kremlin preferred then-candidate Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton, contains additional findings and a series of recommendations.

Despite objections from Democrats, it should be made public after Congress’ two-week Easter recess, said Rep. Mike Conaway, the Texas Republican who led the probe.

“Based on 70-plus witness interviews and more than 300,000 documents collected, [the report] provides specific findings and recommendations to improve our election security before the midterm elections,” committee Chairman Devin Nunes, California Republican, said in a statement following Thursday’s vote.

The declassified summary of findings takes direct aim at the Obama White House response to early signals that a hidden Kremlin hand was trying to sway the 2016 vote in addition to denouncing the executive branch’s post-election response as “insufficient.”

The report calls out the FBI for weak notification of those who were hacked by Russians, while statements attributing election meddling to Russia from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security were found to be “ineffective.”

The findings also rehash material from the committee’s infamous GOP memo from earlier this year that accused the FBI and Justice Department of abusing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to obtain surveillance warrants on Trump campaign associates.

The Trump Campaign is also cleared of any involvement in the theft or publication of Clinton campaign-related emails, “although Trump associates had numerous ill-advised contacts with WikiLeaks,” the report said.

In addition, it notes that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who has been indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller on multiple charges, has not been charged with anything related to “collusion, coordination, or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.”

An unprecedented partisan battle

The president last week pointed to the GOP-authored report as evidence that his campaign is in the clear but the investigation has also long been seen as one of the more contentious and partisan probes in recent Capitol Hill history

Republicans consistently argued that Democrats were extending the probe for political purposes and to smear Mr. Trump. Democrats meanwhile, countered that Mr. Nunes blindly defended the White House and attempted to smear the FBI, Justice Department and Mr. Mueller’s probe.   

After Thursday’s vote, Democrats again vowed to continue investigating and reiterated that their Republican colleagues prematurely shuttered the investigation.

Rep. Adam Schiff, the committee’s top Democrat, specifically blasted his GOP colleagues for changing their report before the vote.

“This is not how you run an investigation,” Mr. Schiff said. “This is how you hobble an investigation.”

The report, initially a 150-page draft, is now roughly 250 pages. GOP committee members said it grew because of “adds” and “annexes.”

Mr. Schiff also said Democrats, in their bid to continue the investigation, made multiple attempts Thursday morning to push the committee to subpoena more witnesses.

They even attempted to press the panel to hold former White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon in contempt for not fully complying with an earlier committee subpoena to answer its questions, but all motions were rejected, Mr. Schiff said.