GOP rep: We’re going to show the CIA ‘got it wrong’ on Russia trying to help Trump

Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) said on Monday that an upcoming report by House Intelligence Committee Republicans will show that the CIA was incorrect in its assessment that Russia sought to help elect President Trump in 2016.

“I have spent a couple days out to the CIA actually reading the raw intelligence; actually reading what we were basing this on,” Stewart, a member of the Intelligence panel, said on CNN. “And when we release this report, we’re going to be able to show, you know what, the CIA just got it wrong.”

The CIA and other agencies within the U.S. intelligence community concluded in a report made public early last year that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election and sought to sway the race in Trump’s favor.

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“The CIA is not perfect. They often — or at least from time to time — will make mistakes, as do I, as do you, as does any agency,” Stewart said. “And we’re just going to have to show people they were wrong on this. They just misinterpreted some very key intelligence and drew the wrong conclusion.”

The House Intelligence Committee abruptly ended its investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election on Monday, with Republicans on the panel asserting that there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), the lawmaker leading the committee’s Russia probe, said that while committee Republicans believed that the Russians used “active measures” to disrupt the election, they disagreed with the intelligence community assessment that Moscow favored Trump’s candidacy.

Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee blasted the decision to end the investigation, accusing Republican members of failing to conduct a thorough investigation in order to protect the president from scrutiny.

A criminal investigation into the matter is being conducted by special counsel Robert Mueller. That probe has appeared to expand in recent weeks. Last month, Mueller unsealed indictments against 13 Russians and three Russian entities in connection with an alleged plot to sow chaos and division in the U.S. election.