CNN’s Anderson Cooper said the conclusion reached by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee in their probe into Russia’s election interference is “to say the least, White House friendly.”
“Republicans who control the House Intelligence Committee say they are shutting it down and issuing a report which committee Democrats have yet to see,” Cooper said Monday night on CNN.
“It is, to say the least, White House friendly on allegations of Trump campaign collusion. Even on the underlying question the U.S. intelligence committee answered more than a year ago,” he continued.
{mosads}”Did Russians meddle in the 2016 election? If so, on whose orders and to whose benefit?”
Cooper said America’s top intelligence professionals have had “no doubt” on this question for more than a year.
The Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee “don’t buy the conclusion about who the Russian operation was designed to benefit,” Cooper said.
Cooper also said the committee’s chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who last year stepped back from leading the investigation, has a record of “carrying water for the administration.”
His comments come after Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) — the top Republican leading the House Intelligence Committee’s probe — said the panel is shutting down its contentious investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
The committee will interview no more witnesses and Republicans are in the process of preparing their final report, Conaway told reporters. A draft of that roughly 150-page report will be delivered to committee Democrats for review on Tuesday.
The draft document asserts that there is no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians, the most politically charged question examined by the committee.
It will also contradict an official U.S. intelligence community assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin showed a “preference” for Trump during the race — another assertion that Trump has disputed.