Dem rebuts Trump on House panel finding: ‘The committee reached no such conclusion’

Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, rebuffed President Trump’s assertion that the committee has concluded there was no collusion between his campaign and Russia.

“Mr. President, the Committee reached no such conclusion — only Republicans. In fact, we did find evidence of collusion, despite GOP members being more interested in protecting you than learning the truth. When accusing others of lying, best not to misrepresent facts yourself,” Schiff tweeted.

Mr. President, the Committee reached no such conclusion — only Republicans. In fact, we did find evidence of collusion, despite GOP members being more interested in protecting you than learning the truth. When accusing others of lying, best not to misrepresent facts yourself. https://t.co/fIuKPGyEN1

— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) March 17, 2018

Schiff’s tweet came in response to Trump saying that the committee had found “no collusion between Russia and the Trump Campaign.”

As the House Intelligence Committee has concluded, there was no collusion between Russia and the Trump Campaign. As many are now finding out, however, there was tremendous leaking, lying and corruption at the highest levels of the FBI, Justice & State. #DrainTheSwamp

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2018

On Monday, the committee finished interviewing witnesses as part of its investigation into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign during the 2016 elections.

After the end of the interviews, committee member Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) announced that the panel’s final report would dispute the intelligence community’s findings that Russia sought to influence the 2016 election on the behalf of Trump. The decision was met with mixed reactions among committee Republicans. 

Democrats on the committee criticized their Republican counterparts, blasting them for ending the investigation prematurely. 

“Sadly, from a very early point in the investigation, the chairman made the decision that his mission was not to find out what Russia did, not to determine the role of U.S. persons, but rather to endeavor to distract the public, to put the government on trial,” Schiff said earlier in the week.

The back-and-forth between Trump and Schiff comes after Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday announced that he had fired the No. 2 official at the FBI, Andrew McCabe.