House Intel Republicans Have Cleared Trump. So Are The Russia Investigations Over?

The House intelligence committee has completed its "Choose Your Own Adventure" story about the Russia imbroglio. Republicans wrote a happy ending for President Trump. Democrats wrote a cliffhanger.

Even though members of the committee say they're taking separate ramps off this highway, however, the road goes ever on. Here are 4 more mileposts still to come in the remainder of the Russia imbroglio.

Democrats are already unhappy with it, but the leaders of the House intelligence committee say their report is complete. It could land with a thud: It's more than 150 pages, includes more than 40 findings and makes 25 recommendations.

For now, though, it's still secret. First, Democrats in the committee's minority need to "review" it — although they've already made clear how they feel — and then it must be declassified by the intelligence community before it can become public.

Will it include any new information? The House committee's dueling Republican and Democratic memoranda in February both shed new factual light on the Russia story, even though they were both partisan documents.

Republicans' memo focused heavily on the facts involved with what they call abuse of power by the FBI and Justice Department, revealing, for example, that the author of the infamous, unverified Russia dossier was a Never-Trumper.

Democrats countered in their memo by revealing that some of the dossier was, in fact, verified by the FBI, and that more people in the Trump camp were under investigation than previously known — though all those details remain secret.

Will the chairman of the House intelligence committee, Devin Nunes, R-Calif., break more new ground in his report or simply make an argument exonerating Trump based on what's already public?

The Senate intelligence committee and Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller, however, aren't quitting yet — of which more below. So Nunes' strategy boils down to a bet on time: He has cleared Trump, but how many revelations could still be coming that he doesn't know he doesn't know about?

One basic point of contention between Republicans and Democrats is over interpreting the facts in the Russia case. Republicans say, in effect, nothing in evidence today shows that the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government's attack on the 2016 election or did anything wrong.

Contacts that took place between Trump aides and Russians before and after Election Day showed, at worst, bad judgment by the Americans involved, said Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, — not an international conspiracy.

Democrats argue that's not only not so — they believe the evidence does show collusion — but that Republicans won't do the kind of investigation that would uncover new facts they don't want. House intelligence committee Ranking Member Adam Schiff, D-Calif., listed several witnesses he said the Republican majority wouldn't interview, the subpoenas it won't issue and the documents it won't use its power to obtain.

Republicans, in short, want to fight on the political battlefield in its present condition, build a firebreak and then move on to what they call the next phase of the story: safeguarding future elections.

That was the line House Speaker Paul Ryan's office took after Nunes' announcement:

"After more than a year investigating Russia's actions in the 2016 election, we are well into the primary season for the 2018 elections and experts are warning that we need to safeguard against further interference," said Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong. "That's what this next phase is about and we hope Democrats will join us in seeing this through."