Nunes and Schiff — who both have security clearances and, as the prime House overseers of the intelligence community should know what they are talking about — both agree: they know nothing about evidence of collusion. Nunes appears to believe that is because there isn’t any such evidence. Schiff appears to believe that is because the FBI has been hiding the evidence. But both say they don’t know much.

The situation seems no better in the Senate, where the biggest recent controversy has been over Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr acting at the behest of the White House to tell reporters there’s no there there on the collusion angle.

What all that suggests is that there is an information vacuum at the core of the Russia election controversy. Everybody is talking about things they don’t know even know happened.

The vacuum has not stopped President Trump’s accusers, who are suggesting there is incriminating evidence of collusion the public has not seen. “There are transcripts that provide very helpful, very critical insights into whether or not Russian intelligence or senior Russian political leaders — including Vladimir Putin — were cooperating, were colluding, with the Trump campaign at the highest levels to influence the outcome of our election,” Democratic Sen. Chris Coons told MSNBC Friday. “I believe they exist.”