Schiff Hammers ‘Collusion’ Narrative At Latest Russia Hearing, As GOP Slams ‘Grotesque Spectacle’

House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff, D-Calif., sought Wednesday to keep the fire burning over Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report with the latest in a series of hearings on the Russia controversy — as Republicans voiced frustration over what they described as a “grotesque spectacle” on Capitol Hill.

Schiff called the hearing to examine what he called the “disturbing findings” of Volume One of Mueller’s report. That volume focused on allegations that the Trump campaign colluded with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign.

“Volume one of the report outlines a sweeping and systemic effort by Russia to interfere in the 2016 election for the benefit of Donald Trump,” Schiff declared. “It establishes that the Trump campaign welcomed the Russian interference because it expected to benefit electorally from the information stolen and released through the Russian effort.”

While he said that most Americans would consider the actions of the campaign and Russian officials to “constitute plain evidence of collusion,” he noted that the report did not find evidence sufficient to support criminal conspiracy charges.

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“Nevertheless and contrary to the president’s often-repeated mantra and many misrepresentations of the attorney general, the special counsel reached no conclusion as to whether the Trump campaign’s many Russian contacts constituted collusion since that term is not defined in criminal law.”

The hearing featured two former FBI officials while Republicans invited former federal prosecutor and Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy to testify. McCarthy told the panel that Russia wasn’t backing Trump per se in the 2016 campaign, and was rather supporting the candidate seen at the time as most likely to lose.

“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin tends to back the candidates he believes will lose on the theory that an alienated losing faction will make it harder for the winning faction to govern,” he said.

“It is a mistake, I respectfully submit, to allow him to divide us by portraying him as on one side or another. He’s against all of us.”

But the sharpest remarks came from Ranking Republican Devin Nunes, R-Calif., who said that Democrats’ claims of collusion had been “exposed as a hoax.”

“One would think the Democrats would simply apologize and get back to lawmaking and oversight but it’s clear they couldn’t stop this grotesque spectacle even if they wanted to,” he said.