Thread by @kyledcheney

Young ⁦@JohnKasich⁩ is watching over this House Intel hearing on the Mueller report.

SCHIFF and @AndrewCMcCarthy share pleasantries.

@AndrewCMcCarthy SCHIFF: "A finding of no collusion, much less a finding of no obstruction, is nowhere to be seen on any page or any passage of the Mueller report."

@AndrewCMcCarthy NUNES: "The collusion hoax now defines the Democratic Party."

@AndrewCMcCarthy NUNES describes the Mueller report as a "shoddy political hit piece."

Inauspicious start: The first witness says "Noon-yez"

Most Intel Committee members are in the room. Missing are Republicans Stefanik and Hurd, and Democrats Swalwell and Carson.

Dem witness Robert Anderson says STRZOK was his chief of staff for a while and he never saw the side of him that emerged in texts.

"Those text messages and emails are unbelievably inappropriate," he said. "I believe the corrective action that was taken was just."

QUIGLEY: However else you feel about the report, should someone [on the Trump campaign] have called the FBI?

MCCARTHY (GOP Witness): Yes.

MCCARTHY also undercut the GOP argument that the Obama administration did nothing to stop Russian interference.

"I think that they did take some investigative steps. It’s debatable whether they should have taken more."

McCarthy emphasized that the Obama admin was concerned about appearing to put its thumb on the scale of an election by making dramatic moves against Russia.

"You can certainly argue about the value judgment," he said.

ODD: Both Democratic witnesses -- former national security officials Robert Anderson and Stephanie Douglas -- say they've never read the Steele Dossier.

GOP Rep. Rick CRAWFORD floats a conspiracy theory: That Obama-era intel officials let Russia interfere because they thought it would help Clinton.

Then he told the witnesses not to respond to this notion and yielded the rest of his time.

HURD, the only Intelligence Committee member who was a former intel agent, yields all his time to Nunes.

NUNES contradicts Trump, says John Kerry should NOT be investigated for potential Logan Act violations.

Trump one month ago: politico.com/story/2019/05/…

SCHIFF says Rep. Stefanik is "not accurate" about her claim that Comey failed to brief Congress on the Russia investigation until days before he made it public.

He says he can't get into specifics but that she's wrong.

MCCARTHY, under questioning from Schiff, says he thinks FBI officials made mistakes on the Carter Page FISA, but not intentionally.

“I don’t think anyone was acting in bad faith on the FISA warrant,” he said.

More MCCARTHY under questioning by Schiff: "I don’t know that there’s evidence [FBI officials] were trying to scuttle the Trump campaign."

Andy McCarthy contradicted three Trump talking points on Russia probe:

-Said FBI was not working to damage Trump campaign
-Said FBI was not acting “in bad faith” on Carter Page FISA
-Said Trump camp should’ve contacted FBI about Trump Tower meeting

Actually, there's a fourth: McCarthy also said the Obama admin took steps to stop Russian interference. He said they may not have done enough (as many Democrats have agreed) but were worried about appearing to put their thumb on the scale by taking over actions.