Collins on Russia probe: I have yet to see ‘definitive evidence of collusion’

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on Sunday said she has yet to see evidence that President Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to meddle in U.S. elections, but she has seen ample proof that Russia was intent on influencing the election.

“I have not yet seen any definitive evidence of collusion. I’ve seen lots of evidence that the Russians were very active in trying to influence the elections,” Collins told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

{mosads}Collins’s remark comes after CNN reported Friday that the first charges in the special counsel’s probe have been authorized by a federal grand jury. 

This week, The Washington Post reported that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Hillary Clinton’s campaign assisted in funding the research that led to the unverified dossier. Collins suggested “additional questioning” of certain witnesses is required.

“It’s difficult to imagine that a campaign chairman, that the head of the DNC, would not know of an expenditure of this magnitude and significance, but perhaps there’s something more going on here,” Collins said. Clinton, then-head of the DNC Debbie Wasserman Schultz and others in leadership have denied knowing about the dossier prior to its publication by Buzzfeed in January.

The conservative Washington Free Beacon on Friday confirmed that it first began funding the research project that lead to the dossier, before the Clinton campaign and the DNC took it over.