Nicole Blanchard
BOISE — Two of Idaho’s four congressmen on Sunday offered their thoughts about the contents of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.
The report was given to Attorney General William Barr on Friday. In a letter to Congress, Barr said “while this report does not conclude the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”
Republican Sen. Jim Risch, who is a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, issued a statement echoing his previous assurances that the committee found no evidence of collusion.
Risch lauded Mueller’s work and called his investigation “straightforward.” Later in his statement, he criticized Democrats and the media, calling claims against the president a “charade.”
“Over the past two years, Democrats and many in the national media have made horrible claims against President Trump, have questioned his loyalty to our country, and have consistently assured the American people of his guilt,” Risch said. “They were wrong.”
It’s not the first time Risch has professed his support for the president. In February, he spoke with Fox News, where he said he’s “never seen the hate and vitriol against an individual that there is against this president.”
Risch ended his comments Sunday with a call for unity.
By 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Republican Rep. Russ Fulcher was the only other Idaho congressman to issue his own, albeit brief, statement on the situation.
In a tweet on Sunday afternoon, Fulcher simply wrote, “675 and zero proof of collusion. It’s time for Congress to get back to work. #MuellersReport #Barr.”