"Fusion Ken" Dilanian: Neither Republicans Nor Democrats on Senate Intelligence Committee Have Found Any Evidence of Collusion Between Trump and Russia

This must be a hard thing for "Fusion Ken" to report.

After two years and 200 interviews, the Senate Intelligence Committee is approaching the end of its investigation into the 2016 election, having uncovered no direct evidence of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, according to both Democrats and Republicans on the committee.

But investigators disagree along party lines when it comes to the implications of a pattern of contacts they have documented between Trump associates and Russians -- contacts that occurred before, during and after Russian intelligence operatives were seeking to help Donald Trump by leaking hacked Democratic emails and attacking his opponent, Hillary Clinton, on social media.

"If we write a report based upon the facts that we have, then we don't have anything that would suggest there was collusion by the Trump campaign and Russia," said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, in an interview with CBS News last week.

Burr was careful to note that more facts may yet be uncovered, but he also made clear that the investigation was nearing an end.

Fusion Ken dutifully notes the spin from Democrat investigators, speaking anonymously, who say they never expected to find a contract inked in blood between Putin and Trump. But that's disingenuous -- they've found nothing.

What they've "found" is nonsense that was already public record -- Trump had made preliminary inquiries into building a couple of projects in Russia, then abandoned those projects.

Someone on Twitter had a great bit of snark about this. Something like: "Trump was exploring different ways of getting a building built in Moscow, and grew frustrated. Suddenly he realized a much simpler way of getting it built -- he would just run for president and win and strike a treasonous deal with Vladimir Putin!"

Ah yes -- it's so simple! It's so brilliantly simple!

The ultimate real estate development Gordian Knot-Chop.

Yeah, all of this bullshit would sound self-evidently stupid and false if the Conspiracy Theorists ever said directly what they're accusing Trump of.

It sounds pretty stupid that a man would figure that the easiest way to get a zoning code variance in Moscow is just to run for president and win, doesn't it?

And yet that's what these people think -- but they're never pushed to admit the details of the Conspiracy So Vast they believe in. They're allowed to glide on by with vague allusions and insinuations.

posted by Ace of Spades at 02:01 PM

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