Investigating the Russia investigations. What's left to learn?

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🗓️ 8 August 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

The question of whether Russian interference in the 2016 election was a decisive reason Donald Trump won the presidency is one that has dogged Trump for the better part of a decade.

It's also been the subject of numerous investigations.

But even though that question has been asked and answered, the current Trump administration is launching another investigation in an effort to reach a different conclusion.

Last month, Trump's Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, declassified documents and she leveled an unprecedented accusation: The Obama administration knowingly pushed the idea of Russian interference as false narrative to sabotage Trump's campaign.

And this week, Attorney General Pam Bondi has authorized an investigation into the investigation of his 2016 campaign's relationship Russia.

What is there left to learn?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Was Russian interference in the 2016 election the reason Donald Trump won the presidency the first time?
0:06.3	That question dogged Trump most of his first term.
0:09.3	It's been asked and answered again and again over many investigations.
0:13.7	Good morning, everyone, and thank you for being here.
0:17.7	There was Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
0:20.3	Russian intelligence officers who were part of the Russian military launched a concerted attack on our
0:27.0	political system. The 2019 report, which came of that investigation, did not find any evidence of
0:32.6	collusion, but it did document Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential campaign.
0:38.8	There was also the bipartisan report by the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2020,
0:42.4	which confirmed and built on some of the findings from Mueller's investigation.
0:46.3	I will let every American who wants to read the report draw their own conclusions.
0:50.3	That's the committee's vice chair, Democratic Senator Mark Warner.
0:53.5	Speaking with NPR's
0:54.3	All Things Considered in August of 2020 when that report was released.
0:57.9	There was unprecedented level of contacts from Russians and their agents with the Trump
1:04.6	campaign and Trump-related officials at a level that was unprecedented.
1:10.2	Despite the findings of multiple investigations, Trump and his allies have downplayed
1:14.3	and undercut the conclusion that Russia interfered in the U.S. election.
1:18.2	Here's what he told NBC's Lester Holt in 2017.
1:21.2	This Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story.
1:25.3	It's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election
1:28.4	that they should have won. And even though that question, did Russia help Trump win, has been
	...

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