No evidence yet of Trump team, Russia collusion - U.S. lawmaker

[webfact]

No evidence yet of Trump team, Russia collusion - U.S. lawmaker

By Patricia Zengerle

REUTERS

 

A woman passes a billboard showing a pictures of US president-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Danilovgrad, Montenegro, November 16, 2016. REUTERS/Stevo Vasiljevic

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of a congressional committee investigating possible contacts between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Russia's government said on Monday the panel had not yet seen evidence of inappropriate communications with Moscow and insisted there was no need for a special prosecutor.

 

"What are we going to appoint a special prosecutor to do, exactly?" Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, asked at a news conference.

 

Nunes said U.S. intelligence officials had not yet presented the committee with any evidence of contacts between Trump campaign staff and Russian intelligence. However, the top Democrat on the committee said later on Monday that it was far too early to make such a determination.

 

"It's been looked into and there's no evidence of anything there," Nunes told a news conference, called days after a weekend report by the Washington Post that the Trump administration asked him and Senator Richard Burr, the chairman of that chamber's intelligence panel, to call journalists to knock down reports about possible collusion.

 

The story prompted questions about whether congressional committees led by Trump's fellow Republicans would conduct a serious investigation of the politically charged allegations.

 

Nunes said the White House had not asked him to knock down the reports, and said he did not think his communications with news organizations had been inappropriate.

 

Underscoring the partisan divide, Representative Adam Schiff, the intelligence committee's top Democrat, told his own news conference that it was far too early in the process to come to any conclusions.

 

"When you begin an investigation, you don't begin by stating what you believe to be the conclusion," he said.

 

'STONEWALLING'

 

Separately, Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, said Nunes' remarks raised "serious questions about stonewalling."

 

White House press secretary Sean Spicer told a news briefing that administration officials did their job "very effectively" by ensuring reporters got the answers they needed.

 

Potential contact between Trump's campaign and Russia, and possible Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election on Trump's behalf, have prompted Democrats to demand a select committee or special prosecutor.

 

Most of Trump's fellow Republicans in Congress have resisted such suggestions, frustrating Democrats, who contrast their approach with their multiple investigations of 2015 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, including her use of a private email server.

 

Schiff said on Monday he was not confident that James Comey, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, would provide investigators with all the information they would need.

 

Comey, a Republican, drew furious criticism from Democrats for saying just before the election that he was looking at emails related to Clinton's use of a private server.

 

Nunes said he did not want U.S. citizens to be hauled before Congress because of news reports about their potential ties to Russia. "We can't have McCarthyism back in this place," he said, alluding to the notorious 1950s Senate hearings into Americans' potential ties to Communism.

 

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and David Alexander; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-02-28

[craigt3365]

Politics at it's worst.

[boomerangutang]

               Republicans are so blatantly hypocritical.  When a patient at a hospital needs an enema, all the nurses have to do is mention Republican Congress members, and the patient will lose his/her bowles in a minute.  Just be sure the patient is sitting on a toilet before telling him/her what the Republican said.

[darksidedog]

"White House press secretary Sean Spicer told a news briefing that administration officials did their job “very effectively” by ensuring reporters got the answers they needed."

Shouldn't that read, "Ensuring reporters not overly critical of the current administration got the answers they needed."

Not letting the others in to press releases "very effectively." silences them.

Bring back freedom of the press.

[kevkev1888]

So sorry all you Trump haters. Nothing to see here. 

[jerojero]

So sorry all you Trump haters. Nothing to see here. 

We don't hate him. We just know he's an idiot.

[BrainLife]

Stick to La La Land you libbies, your winner

[JHolmesJr]

Excuse me, but I have to LOL.

[blazes]

2 hours ago, jerojero said:

We don't hate him. We just know he's an idiot.

 

Americans have been ill-served by their presidents.  Of the 9 (starting with Nixon) and including Trump, 4 have been patently idiots [Ford, Reagan, Bush 2 and Trump].  But even those with brains [Nixon, Carter, Bush 1, Clinton and Obama] hardly did better.

9 different presidents, same weakness:  they all had to kow tow to the military/industrial complex.

[craigt3365]

17 minutes ago, blazes said:

 

Americans have been ill-served by their presidents.  Of the 9 (starting with Nixon) and including Trump, 4 have been patently idiots [Ford, Reagan, Bush 2 and Trump].  But even those with brains [Nixon, Carter, Bush 1, Clinton and Obama] hardly did better.

9 different presidents, same weakness:  they all had to kow tow to the military/industrial complex.

BS.  Ford and Regan were OK presidents.  Carter was quite good.  As was Clinton.  Your comments are not true.

[WaywardWind]

It is easy to say that there is no evidence - when no documentary evidence has been sought, no witnesses have testified, and so on, according to the ranking Democrat on the panel:

Schiff, who worked as an assistant U.S. attorney for six years, said it's not proper to start an investigation by stating your views of the outcome.

 

"The committee has reached no conclusion on whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia, Russian officials or any Russian contacts - nor could we," Schiff said. "We have called no witnesses thus far. We have obtained no documents on any counterintelligence investigation and we have yet to receive any testimony from the FBI of potential links between the Trump campaign and Russia."

 

Maybe Nunes expects to obtain the evidence through divine intervention, or perhaps ESP?

Nines is the same guy who is believes that the Logan Act has no validity anymore. I think it safe to say that the DoJ would disagree....

Edited February 28, 2017 by WaywardWind

[whatawonderfulday]

And Stalin was a humanist

[elgordo38]

4 hours ago, darksidedog said:

"White House press secretary Sean Spicer told a news briefing that administration officials did their job “very effectively” by ensuring reporters got the answers they needed."

Shouldn't that read, "Ensuring reporters not overly critical of the current administration got the answers they needed."

Not letting the others in to press releases "very effectively." silences them.

Bring back freedom of the press.

ThaiUSA

[elgordo38]

I leave this with you a new worlds record. A 100 lies in just 39 days. Credibility continues to crumble. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-administration-lies-100_us_58ac7a0fe4b02a1e7dac3ca6