Rep. Chris Stewart says he believes Russia was trying to sway the 2016 presidential election, but he can't say in whose favor.
"For someone to answer that question definitively, they'd have to crawl inside [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's head. It's impossible to know. I've spent days, not just hours, but days, actually looking at intelligence,” Stewart, R-Utah, told The Salt Lake Tribune.
His opinion flies in the face of U.S. intelligence agencies that have concluded Russia attempted to help Trump and hurt Clinton.
Asked about Putin's comment at last week's Helsinki summit that he wanted Trump to win, Stewart told the newspaper:
"Of course he's going to say that," Stewart said. "He's a KGB operative, so of course he's going to deceive. And the thing that he wants to do is weaken this president so what's one way he can do that, [he can say], 'Yeah, he's my guy.'"
Stewart added that he doesn't believe special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference and whether the Trump campaign was involved will bear fruit.
"We haven't seen evidence of collusion, and I always add, yet, because I think that's fair. But I'll be very, very surprised if we do. And I think Mr. Mueller will be surprised," he told the Tribune.
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