The House Intelligence Committee's recent release of transcripts of its closed-door hearings addressing possible collusion between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign show that it never found any evidence that the campaign had colluded with Russia. Senior intelligence, law enforcement and foreign policy officials testified during the hearings, which began in 2016 and concluded in 2017.

The committee did not want to release the transcripts because they exposed Chairman Adam Schiff as a liar. Thinking the transcripts would remain secret for security reasons, Schiff repeatedly and falsely claimed that he had evidence proving the Trump campaign's collusion.

More darkly, the transcripts show that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein lacked any basis to appoint Robert Mueller to investigate the Trump campaign on May 17, 2017. As of that date, there was no reason to suggest that the Trump campaign had colluded with Russia, making the Mueller investigation an attempted coup against Trump from inside his own Justice Department. Mueller found nothing and the coup failed.

Using the words "liar" and "coup" in a letter is almost always an overstatement. Not in this case, however.

Mark Shea

Moodus