House Intelligence Committee Republicans announced the end of the committee’s investigation into the Donald Trump/Russia collusion conspiracy during the 2016 presidential election, concluding that there is no evidence to support the charge nor to continue the investigation. Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R-TX) stated, “We’ve found no evidence of collusion. We found perhaps some bad judgment, inappropriate meetings, inappropriate judgment at taking meetings.” Conaway further opined, “Only Tom Clancy or Vince Flynn or someone else like that could take this series of inadvertent contacts with each other, meetings, whatever, and weave that into some sort of a fiction, page-turner spy thriller. We’re not dealing in fiction, we’re dealing in facts, and we found no evidence of any collusion.”

House Democrats, clearly not thrilled by the decision, predictably claimed that Republicans were shutting down the investigation too soon in order to protect Trump. The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Adam Schiff (CA), blasted the announcement as a “tragic milestone” and a “capitulation to the executive branch.” Schiff added, “By ending its oversight role in the only authorized investigation in the House, the Majority has placed the interests of protecting the president over protecting the country, and history will judge its actions harshly.” Schiff then regurgitated the Democrats’ worn-out talking point of Russian collusion conspiracy, saying, “If the Russians do have leverage over the president of the United States, the majority has simply decided it would rather not know.”

After more than a year of the Intel Committee investigating and turning up no evidence of any collusion, Republicans are right to conclude the matter — it has proven only to descend into political gamesmanship. Democrats weren’t interested in finding the truth and concluding the investigation. Rather, their desire was to see it continue unendingly in order to maintain a politically convenient cloud of suspicion over Trump’s entire presidency. Their feigned concern over protecting the nation has nothing to do with actually protecting America; it’s aimed at protecting their anti-Trump political position.

While Democrats are trying to protect their anti-Trump talking points, Republicans are rightly focusing on moving forward and protecting the nation against more Russian election meddling. A spokeswoman for House Speaker Paul Ryan noted, “After more than a year investigating Russia’s actions in the 2016 election, we are well into the primary season for the 2018 elections and experts are warning that we need to safeguard against further interference. That’s what this next phase is about and we hope Democrats will join us in seeing this through.” Fat chance.

Exit quote: “House Republicans have abandoned their oath to support and defend the Constitution and protect the American people,” lamented House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). No, Democrats are the ones who’ve mastered abandoning their oaths.