Transcripts Show House Had No Evidence in Trump-Russia Collusion

The House Intelligence Committee had been investigating alleged collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia. However, newly released transcripts show top Obama officials acknowledging that no “empirical evidence” to prove such a conspiracy exists. 

No Empirical Evidence for Russia Probe

When asked about whether they had seen any evidence of Trump or his campaign plotting alongside Russians to fix the election, all interviewees had the same answer – none. Some had their concerns and worries, but no hard evidence that could be used in an actual case. 

Among the interviewees were former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice, former Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes, and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch. 

The transcripts’ release was approved in late 2018 by the Intelligence Committee but was just now revealed to the public after mounting pressure from Republicans. Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell notified Committee Chairman Schiff that the redaction and declassification process was complete, meaning the transcripts can finally be made public. 

Schiff, however, shifted the blame to the White House for the delay, saying that the administration dragged their feet on the classification review, and went on to point at several examples that he believes to be “ample evidence of the corrupt interactions” between Trump or associates and Russia. 

Despite Schiff’s efforts to “expose” Trump’s corruption, the transcripts – just like the investigations - turned up with nothing. 

“The transcripts show a total lack of evidence, despite Schiff personally going out saying he had more than circumstantial evidence that there was collusion,” a source involved in the investigations told Fox News.