By Allan Lengel
Special Counsel John H. Durham, after a four-year investigation, on Monday issued a highly-critical report of the FBI probe into Donald Trump’s relationship with Russia and the 2016 presidential election, concluding the agency did not have good reason to open a preliminary review or investigation that became known as “Crossfire Hurricane.”
“The speed and manner in which the FBI opened and investigated Crossfire Hurricane during the presidential election season based on raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence also reflected a noticeable departure from how it approached prior matters involving possible attempted foreign election interference plans aimed at the Clinton campaign,” the 306-page report said.
The FBI issued a statement in response to the report and the $6.5 million probe:
“The conduct in 2016 and 2017 that Special Counsel Durham examined was the reason that current FBI leadership already implemented dozens of corrective actions, which have now been in place for some time. Had those reforms been in place in 2016, the missteps identified in the report could have been prevented. This report reinforces the importance of ensuring the FBI continues to do its work with the rigor, objectivity, and professionalism the American people deserve and rightly expect.”
The Durham report echoes some criticisms made in 2019 by Inspector General Michael Horowitz. However, the inspector general concluded that the FBI had sufficient evidence to open the probe. (Read 2019 IG Report) Durham was an appointee of Trump.
Durham’s report is bound to provide fuel for Republicans, particularly Trump and FBI critics like Rep. Jim Jordan, who contend that the FBI has been weaponized and needs to be tamed. It’s likely Trump will be touting the report as he gears up for his 2024 campaign for president.
In fact, on Monday he provided a preview on social media: “the American Public was scammed, just as it is being scammed right now by those who don’t want to see GREATNESS for AMERICA!”
The editorial page of the Wall Street Journal praised the report, writing:
“Two special counsels, several inspector general reports and six years later, the country finally has a more complete account of the FBI’s Russia collusion probe of the 2016 Donald Trump campaign. Special counsel John Durham’s final report makes clear that a partisan FBI became a funnel for disinformation from the Hillary Clinton campaign through a secret investigation the bureau never should have launched.”
Democrats are likely to accuse the report of being bias, considering that Durham was appointed by Trump’s Attorney General William Barr, who faced repeated allegations by critics of being overly political.
They have pointed to a four-year probe that only landed one minor conviction, an FBI lawyer, who pleaded guilty to altering an email in a court application for surveillance of a Trump adviser. Two other cases ended in embarrassing acquittals. Trump had once predicted the probe would uncover the “crime of the century.”
Andrew Weissmann, one of the prosecutors who worked with Robert S. Mueller III when he was a special counsel looking into Trump, called the Durham report a “nothingburger,” during an appearance Tuesday morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” He pointed out in the two cases Durham unsuccessfully prosecuted, 24 jurors found no evidence to convict.
The Durham reports goes on to say:
“An objective and honest assessment of these strands of information should have caused the F.B.I. to question not only the predication for Crossfire Hurricane, but also to reflect on whether the F.B.I. was being manipulated for political or other purposes,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, it did not.”
To read the full report click here.
