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MINORITY VI WS

The Minority Members

of

the House Permanent Select Commi

tt

on Intelligence on March 26, 2018 submit the following Minority Views to the Majority-produced

Repo11

on Russian Active Measures, March 22, 201

8

Dev

in

Nunes,

California,

CMAtR

MAN K.

Mi

ch

J

OI

Conaway, Toxas P

e1

or T. Ki

ng

.

New

York

F,ank A.

LoBiondo,

N

ew

Jer

sey

Thom.is

J

R

oo

n

ev.

Flor

id

a Ileana

ROS

·lchtinon,

Flori

da

Mi

ch

nel R. Turner, Ohio Br

ad

R. Wons1rup.

Ohio

Ouis S1

cw

a

rt

U

ah

Ri

ck Cr.,wford, Ar

ka

nsas Trey Gowdy, South Caro

li

na

E

llsr.

M. S1n

fn11ik

, Nnw

York

Wi

ll

Hurd

,

Tcxa~

A

t1a

m 8. Schiff, Cohfo

rn1a

,

RANKI

NG

M

EM

tlER

Jorncs

A.

Himes,

Co

nnec1

cu

t

Te

rr

i A. Sewell, AlabJma

An

drC

Carso

n,

ln

cli

na

Jac

ki

e Sp

eier,

Ca

llf

om

ia

Mike Quigley,

Il

l

ino

is

E,ic

Swa

lwell,

California

Joil

q

u1

0

Castro, Texas

De

nny

Hu

ck

,

Was

hington

P::iu

l D. Ryan,

SPCAl(

[R

or

TH

H

OUSE

No

ncv

rc

1o

s

1

DEM

OC

t.1

1c

Lr:.11.orn

UNCL

ASS

IFIED

U.

S.

HOUSE

OF

REPRESENTATIVES

PERMA

NENT

SEL

EC

T CO

MMITTEE

ON

I

NT

EL

LIGE

NC

E

March 26, 2018

MINORITY VIEWS

HVC-

304

, THE C

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.REEN

MtNORllV

ST

FF OtR

ECToq

On March I, 2

01

7, the Hou

se

Permanent Sele

ct

Co

mm

il

tee

on Intelligen

ce

(HP

SC

I) a

ppr

ove

d a biparti

sa

n

'

Scope

of

In

vestigation" to guide the

Co

mmitte

e's

inquiry into

Ru

ssia's

interf

erence in the 2

01

6 U.S. el

ec

ti

on.

1

In

announc

in

g th

ese

parameters for the House of Re

pr

ese

nt

atives' o

nl

y autho

ri

zed

in

ves

tigation in

to

Russia

's

meddling,

th

e

Co

mmittee's lea

der

ship

pl

edg

ed

to unde1take a thorough, biparti

sa

n, and independe

nt

probe.

Th

e Co

mmitt

ee explained at the time that it

wo

uld "conduct interviews, t

ake

wit

ness t

es

timony, and review all reporting underlyin

g

the January 6, 2

017

Intelligence Co

mmunity

Assessment (ICA) on Russ

ia

's c

ove

rt c

amp

aign.

2

Importantly, Chairman Devin Nun

es

and Ranking Me

mb

er

Adam Sc

hi

ff

prom

is

ed the

Am

erican public that the C

ommittee

would "

see

k to ensure[ ... ] that allegations of Russian

co

llusion with any U.S. Persons and lhe l

ea

ks

of

cl

ass

ified informa

ti

on are fully investi

ga

ted." Chairman

Nun

es

v

owe

d that ·'

on

a bipartisan basis,

we

will fully investigate a

ll

th

e

ev

idence we coll

ec

t and

fo

ll

ow

th

at eviden

ce

wherever it l

ea

ds

,

a

pr

omi

se

echoed

by

Ranking Me

mber

Schi

ff

, who said that the Co

mm

i

ttee

"

mu

st follow the

fa

ct

s

wher

ever th

ey

may lead, l

ea

ving no stone unturned, and that must also

in

clude both the Russian hacking and dumping of documents as we I as any potential collusion betw

een

Russia and U.S. ci

ti

z

en

s. "

3

One year later, the

Co

mmitt

ee's Maj

or

ity

ha

s shattered its commitment by rus

hing

to end its inv

es

tigati

on

prematurely, even

as

it

co

ntinu

es to

inv

es

tigate Pr

es

id

e

nt

Donald

Trump

's

po

liti

ca

l opponents, o

ur

intelligence

age

ncies, law enforcement, and dipl

oma

ti

c c

or

ps, and former

me

mbers

of

the Admini

st

ration of Preside

nt

Bar

ac

k O

ba

ma. In so doing, the Maj

or

ity has not only failed to meet the mandate g

iv

en to

th

e HPSCI by the Speaker of the House and the

Min

ority L

ea

d

er

, but

th

ey have e

ngage

d in a systematic

effor

t to mud

dy

the waters, and to de

fl

ec

t attention away from the

Pr

esident,

mos

t recklessly in

th

eir

assault on the cent

ra

l pillars

of

the rule of law.

Their

report, as with their overa

ll

co

nd

uc

t of the investigation, is unworthy of this Co

mmit

tee, the Hou

se

of

Representat

iv

es, and m

os

t imp

or

tantly, the American people, who arc n

ow

le

ft

to try to discern

what

is true and what is not.

I

UNCLAS

SIFIED

UNCLASSIFIED The

Majority s

report reflects a l

ack

of

se

ri

ousn

ess and

interest in pur

suing

the truth.

By

refusing to

ca

ll

in key witnesses, by r

ef

using to request pertinent

documents

, and

by re

f

us

i

ng

to compel

and enforce

witn

ess

cooperati

on

and

a

nswers

to

key

questions

, the

Major

ity

hobbled

the

Committ

ee

s

ab

ility to

conduct

a

cred

ible investigation

that

cou

ld inspire

pub

lic

confidence.

The

Majority s co

nduct

has also undermined

Co

ngre

ss

independe

nt investigative authority.

Their

repeated deferrals to the

White

Hou

se

a

ll

owe

d

witnesses

to refuse

cooperat

i

on,

and

permitted

the

Administration to dictate

the te

rms

of

their int

eract

i

on

with

Co

ngress,

or evade

co

ngressional

ove

rsig

ht

alt

oget

her,

setting

a

damaging precede

nt for future n

on-cooperat

i

on

by this President and, possibly,

by

hi

s successors.

These Views

memorialize

the

Minority s

profound

disappointment

with and

objec

tions to

the manner

in

which the

Majority s

ubve

1ted this inve

st

i

gation, an

d highlight

for

the

pub

li

c s

ome

of

the

most

glaring misrepresentations, distortions.

and inaccuracies

in

the

Majo

rity s

repor

t

A maj

or

ity

of

the

repoit s findings are

mi

sl

ead

ing

and

unsuppo1ted

by

the

facts

and

the in

vest

igative record. Th

ey

have been crafted to

advance

a political narrative that

exonerates

the President,

downplays

Russia s

pref

erence and s

upp

o

rt

for

then-cand

idate T

rump

, explains

away

repeated contacts

by Trump

associates

with

Russia-aligned actors, and

seeks

to shift

susp

icion towards President

Trump s

political opponents

and the

prior

administrat

ion.

One

can find no better

example

of

the

Majority

s willingness to conto

rt

facts to suppo

rt

its politicized narrati

ve

than

the

r

epo

rt s

Finding 35.

The

Majority argues that

evide

n

ce

that

Tru

mp

associates

so

ug

ht

after

the

election to establish

sec

ret

back

channels

to

communicate

wit

h the Ru

ss

ians

without the

U.S.

government

finding

out

-and

then

li

ed abo

ut it -actua

ll

y proves there

was

no collusion with Russia.

The so

phi

st

ry

of

this

kind

of

analys

is,

and

the

repor

t

as

a whole, wither und

er

sc

rutiny. Even before

it

s public rel

ease

,

the

report suffered in

the

face

of

public r

eve

lations

th

at

bear

dir

ect

ly on the investigation

and

contradi

cted

the

Major

it

y s

cone

I us i

ons

. Tragically, for a

co

untry in n

ee

d

of

the truth

and

an election

system

in n

eed

of

grea

ter

sec

urity,

the

Majority diverted the inve

st

i

ga

ti

on in the service

of

President

Trum

p by launching parallel probes to

promote

baseless a

ll

ega

ti

ons

of

wrongdoing by

the

Obama Adminis

tration and

our

l

aw

enforceme

nt

agenc

ies.

The

Majority s effo

rts

have

cultivated

doub

t

about what occu

rred during

the

2 16

el

ec

tions; cast

sus

picion on

the

Federal

Burea

u

of

In

vest

igati

on

(FBI)

and

D

epa

rtment

of

Ju

st

ice (DOJ), including the FBl

s

basis for

and

handling

of

its

counterint

e

ll

igence inves

ti

ga

ti

on

into links between Russia and t

he

Trump

c

ampai

gn;

and

sought

to

undercu

t

Specia

l Counsel R

obert Mueller

s

ongoing investigation, including

by

attempting to tarnish t

he

credibility

of

num

erous

c

urr

ent

and

for

mer

officials with

knowledge pertinent

to

the Specia

l

Co

unsel s probe. Despite t

he

se set

backs and the constraints

of

being

in

the

Minority, the

Committee

s

Dem

ocra

ti

c

Members

remain

committed

to

co

ntinuing

the

investigation.

We

h

ave significantly advanced our

understanding

of

key

as

pe

cts

of

the inv

est

igation, including

Russia

s cove1t activiti

es

and

the

UNCLASSIFI

ED