The House Committee did not conclude Trump did not engage in collusion, because the Committee did not investigate that.
Mueller raised possibility of Trump subpoena in tense meeting with legal team
While defending a
report from Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee that found "no evidence" of collusion between Russia and members of President Trump's campaign, Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy cautioned that the executive branch is better suited to investigate the matter.
On Sunday, fired FBI Director James Comey called the report a "wreck," which prompted Gowdy to say that the criticism is unfair.
"I have more confidence in executive branch investigations than I do congressional,"
Gowdy told CBS News' Margaret Brennan on "Face the Nation" on Sunday. "I wouldn't say it's a wreck. The witnesses we talked to -- no one said that they had any evidence of collusion. And I participated in almost every one of those interviews and I'm the one who asked the questions. So from the standpoint of where these matters are best investigated, I don't think it's in Congress right now for myriad reasons."
Gowdy, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, said that special counsel Robert Mueller's team is better equipped to investigate any potential collusion, which he noted is not technically a crime. The real crime, Gowdy said, is conspiracy, and while the House Intelligence committee had not found any evidence of that, it's possible that there is evidence that they had not seen.
"[T]he best we can do is say what we've learned," Gowdy said. "I can't say what's in the universe of witnesses we have not talked to. And I have always maintained I am awaiting the Mueller investigation. They get to use a grand jury. They have investigative tools that we don't have. Executive branch investigations are just better than congressional ones. So we found no evidence of collusion whether or not it exists or not, I can't speak to because I haven't interviewed the full panoply of witnesses."
