President Donald Trump rejoiced on Friday morning that a pair of congressional investigations into Russian election meddling are likely to end without any charges of collusion against him or his associates.
A Politico report detailing the committees’ work says probes in the House and the Senate are on track to conclude before primaries begin next year in February.
They could end with lingering questions over whether any Americans worked with the Russians to disrupt last year’s election, including affiliates of the Trump campaign.
Trump claimed Friday that it is now ‘commonly agreed’ that his campaign committed no crimes. He said 2016 rival Hillary Clinton was the one caught up Russian collusion.
President Donald Trump rejoiced on Friday morning that a pair of congressional investigations into Russian election meddling are likely to end without any charges of collusion against him or his associates
Trump claimed Friday that it is now ‘commonly agreed’ that his campaign committed no crimes. He said 2016 rival Hillary Clinton was the one caught up Russian collusion
The report he seemed to be referring to did not claim that Trump’s campaign had been or would ultimately be cleared. In fact, it said the probes were likely to leave the issue of collusion open ended
The report in Politico did not claim that Trump’s campaign had been or would ultimately be cleared. In fact, it said the probes were likely to leave the issue of collusion open ended.
‘It’s quite possible that six months from now, there will be unanswered questions that we can’t answer because the people we would need to answer those questions are in Russia,’ Congressman Jim Himes of Connecticut told the news publication. ‘The probability that we’re going to produce a report that buttons down every question is pretty low.’
Investigators are separately probing an alleged pay-for-play scheme involving Clinton and her family foundation but it has only just started. The incident at hand occurred while she was working in government, years before last year’s presidential campaign.
The the secretary of state, Clinton sat on a panel that approved the sale of U.S. uranium reserves to a Russian-owned company.
Entities involved in the transaction donated to the Clinton Foundation. An investment banking firm with ties to the Kremlin that had talked up the sale, paid Bill Clinton $500,000 to deliver a speech in Moscow while the deal was in progress.
Trump told reporters last week, as the deal came under scrutiny in the U.S. Senate, ‘I think that’s your Russia story. That’s your real Russia story. Not a story where they talk about collusion, which there was none. It was hoax.’
When two House committees announced their own probe, Trump claimed the uranium deal was ‘Watergate modern era.’
Fackcheck.org found no direct ties to the donations to the Clinton Foundation or Bill Clinton’s speaking fee and the Uranium One deal that Hillary Clinton had a say in as secretary of state.
Politifact could not rate the claims’ accuracy based on the known information, but came down heavily on Trump for his repeated assaults on Hillary Clinton, who it determined was a cog in the process but not the decider.
Trump appeared to be referring to the billowing scandal when he referenced Clinton by her initials in a tweet this morning on Russian collusion.
‘It is now commonly agreed, after many months of COSTLY looking, that there was NO collusion between Russia and Trump. Was collusion with HC!’ he said.
HC is Hillary Clinton. The question or Russian collusion seemingly referred to the Politico report.
Regardless of what Congress determines, Trump and his campaign still face a Department of Justice probe.
Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating allegations of collusion against various Trump associates, including son Don Jr following an undisclosed meeting at Trump Tower in June of 2016 with group of Russian nationals and their affiliates.