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Gehrke: Chris Stewart's Russia spin looks to be the congressman's latest work of fiction

Stewart has been perhaps the most outspoken Republican — save President Donald Trump, himself — in opposition to the idea that Russia tampered with the 2016 election in an attempt to undermine Hillary Clinton’s campaign and, accordingly, help Trump.

The Russian meddling wasn’t the plot of one of Stewart’s stories. It was the consensus conclusion of the CIA, the NSA and the FBI, all of which agreed with “high confidence” in a declassified document last year that Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to swing the election to Trump.

It’s a finding that has been reiterated in congressional testimony and echoed more recently in a detailed indictment by special counsel Robert Mueller that specified how Russian operatives orchestrated rallies backing Trump and sought to make it appear that Clinton had support from radical Islamic groups.