
Newly revealed emails show that an NRA official served as conduit between Russia and the Trump campaign, but Republicans refused to investigate it — raising questions about what is hiding behind the door that they're too scared to open.

Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee released a report Friday summarizing the findings from their investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. But before they could finish saying "no collusion!", a slew of damning new evidence was made public in the form of a Minority report — and unlike Republican committee members, Democrats brought receipts.

According to the 98-page Minority report, Republicans failed to pursue key lines of evidence, refused to issue requests for critical documents and witness testimony, and turned a blind eye to some of the most pressing unanswered questions about the Trump campaign's ties to Russia.

Among the most glaring issues ignored by Republican lawmakers is the role of the NRA as a conduit between the Kremlin and Trump campaign officials.


Citing evidence from emails and other communications, financial documents, intelligence assessments, and public records, the report describes how Russia tried to cultivate relationships with Trump associates, including an effort to establish a "first contact" with the Trump campaign through an intermediary at the NRA named Rick Erickson.

In an email included in the report, Erickson reached out to Rick Dearborn, a longtime senior advisor to Jeff Sessions and a senior Trump campaign official, to inform him of the Kremlin's interest in establishing a relationship with the campaign. Erickson even used the word "back-channel" to describe the type of communication he sought to initiate between the Trump campaign and Russia.

"I’m now writing to you and Sen. Sessions in your roles as Trump foreign policy experts / advisors," Erickson wrote in the May 2016 email. "Happenstance and the (sometimes) international reach of the NRA placed me in a position a couple of years ago to slowly begin cultivating a back-channel to President Putin’s Kremlin."

Erickson went on to describe Russia's covert efforts to forge relationships with Republican politicians in America, writing, "Russia is quietly but actively seeking a dialogue with the U.S. that isn’t forthcoming under the current [Obama] administration."

"And for reasons that we can discuss in person or on the phone, the Kremlin believes that the only possibility of a true re-set in this relationship would be with a new Republican White House," he wrote. "Putin is deadly serious about building a good relationship with Mr. Trump."