Top Democrat on House intelligence panel says there's 'more than circumstantial evidence' linking Trump campaign to Russia

Rep. Adam Schiff says there&#039;s more than circumstantial evidence of Trump team collusion with Russia

(Image credit: MSNBC/YouTube)

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) added a new wrinkle Wednesday to the multiple lines of investigation into Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election and whether members of President Trump's team were involved. After being briefed by Nunes, Trump said he felt "somewhat" vindicated by the congressman's unsubstantiated assertion that he'd seen "intelligence reports that clearly show that the president-elect and his team were, I guess, at least monitored," legally and apparently incidentally, between the election and inauguration.

The top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), said it's "deeply troubling" that Nunes shared his information with Trump, a subject of the investigation, rather than the committee doing the investigation. But on MSNBC Wednesday evening, Schiff told Chuck Todd that he's already seen "more than circumstantial evidence" of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. "I can tell you that the case is more than that," he said. "I don't want to go into specifics, but I will say that there is evidence that is not circumstantial and is very much worthy of investigation, so that is what we ought to do."

On Monday, FBI Director James Comey said publicly for the first time that the FBI is investigating possible Trump campaign participation in Russian attempts to sway the election away from Hillary Clinton and toward Trump. There has so far been no evidence made public to tie Trump associates to Russia's hacking of Democratic and Clinton campaign officials and the dissemination of that material.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.