The ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee made clear Sunday that there is increasingly “pretty damning” evidence of collusion between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Moscow. Rep. Adam Schiff made the statement after CNN’s Jake Tapper said that while there are several pieces to the story, “we haven’t seen an actual proof of cooperation and collusion.” That is when Schiff said that the key was “to look at the pattern and the chronology.”

When you analyze all the isolated incidents, there seems to be a pattern, Schiff said. “The Russians offered help. The campaign accepted help. The Russians gave help. And the president made full use of that help,” the California Democrat said. “And that’s pretty damning, whether it is proof beyond a reasonable doubt of conspiracy or not.” But for now there are a lot of incidents that “you would have to believe … were all isolated,” which “doesn’t make rational sense.”

"It's not at all a surprise that they (Russians) would make outreach to people they thought would have influence in the administration..." - Rep. Adam Schiff on Russian efforts to contact President Trump's communications director, Hope Hicks https://t.co/CBbPDDMsCR pic.twitter.com/vZQlmB7P3m — CNN (@CNN) December 10, 2017

Schiff also dismissed accusations from Republicans that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is biased, calling them part of “an effort to tear at the very idea that there is an objective truth.” The ultimate goal, he said, is “nothing short of discrediting Mueller, then discrediting the Justice Department, then discrediting the FBI, then discrediting the judiciary, should the judiciary convict some of the people that Mueller has charged or may charge in the future.”

Schiff was hardly the only Democrat pushing for a big-picture look at any Russian connection. On NBC’s Meet the Press, Rep. Jim Himes, who is also a member of the House Intelligence Committee, made clear there is still no hard evidence of collusion but was sure to point out the signs seem to be pointing in one direction. “Of course, we’ve seen a lot of contact, we’ve seen desire to get dirt, desire to work with Russians, desire to contact the Russians,” Himes said. “The question is, was there some form—and it is a question, I don’t want to prejudice the outcome—was there cooperation?”

Rep. @jahimes tells Chuck "we've seen a lot of contact" between Russia and Trump campaign in House investigation. https://t.co/ufMDT86JVK — Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) December 10, 2017