Chris Cillizza is back with his entertaining silliness and this time it takes the form of desperately hoping that evidence of Russian collusion could be found despite a year of intensive investigation by a House Committee, a Senate Committee, Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team, and a horde of liberal journalists. Yet despite no such evidence having been found after all this time, Cillizza continues to cling to his collusion hope that maybe, somehow, his dream will come true in his March 14 column:
"THE HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE HAS, AFTER A 14 MONTH LONG IN-DEPTH INVESTIGATION, FOUND NO EVIDENCE OF COLLUSION OR COORDINATION BETWEEN THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN AND RUSSIA TO INFLUENCE THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION," Trump tweeted soon after the House Intelligence Committee announced that it had concluded its work.
Here's the issue: The findings of the House Intelligence Committee is one data point among many. It is not determinative of anything. It is the view of a handful of House Republicans. That's it.
So the Democrats have found evidence of collusion? If true, do tell.
While the House committee's probe has been hampered by partisanship almost since the start of this Russia investigation, the Senate side has worked together on a much more bipartisan basis. Chairman Richard Burr, the North Carolina Republican, has repeatedly said that while he has seen no evidence of collusion, this remains an ongoing investigation and he will withhold judgment until be sees the whole picture.
Key phrase: " no evidence of collusion." Meanwhile Cillizza waits for the "whole picture" to arrive, probably around the same time the Great Pumpkin shows up.
And now Cillizza brings up Robert Mueller. However, note what he very obviously leaves out:
Bob Mueller, appointed as special counsel by deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein last year, is the real show here. He has already secured three guilty pleas from Trump campaign officials -- all of whom are cooperating with the broader investigation. He has charged former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort on a variety of alleged financial improprieties. He's charged 13 Russians with helping to run a broad-scale attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election.
And for those of you not fully awake, what Cillizza very conveniently failed to mention is Mueller also failed to make any charges of collusion.
The funniest thing is the conclusion of Cillizza's desperate hope column where he writes the following without any sense of self-awareness:
For all of those trying to draw conclusions from what's happened this week in the Russia investigation, they'd be wise to remember the words of John Adams (although he wasn't the first to utter them): "Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."
And despite the FACT that none of these many investigators after all this time have found any evidence of Trump-Russia collusion, poor Cillizza's wishes, inclinations, and passions are not in the least altered by the state of facts and evidence.
Even Saturday Night Live has given up the Trump-Russia collusion ghost as you can see in their skit from last weekend.
