Testifying publicly for the first time on Wednesday, Special Counsel John Durham laid bare the fatal flaws in the FBI's decisions and conduct relating to the Crossfire Hurricane investigation of debunked claims that Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign was colluding with Russia to steal the election from Hillary Clinton.
Reiterating the top line findings of his full report released earlier this year, Durham explained before the House Judiciary Committee that his probe turned up facts that were "sobering" — related "to a lack of investigative discipline" and "bias," among other issues — to him and his investigative team.
"Our findings were sobering" Durham says, especially to him and others looking into FBI misconduct after a 40 year legal career
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) June 21, 2023
"If repeated and left unaddressed, these issues could result in significant national security risks," Durham warned lawmakers. While those issues need to be remedied, he continued, "the problems identified in this report are not susceptible to overnight fixes."
"What is required is accountability," Durham said pointedly.
DURHAM: "Our findings were sobering...Anybody who actually reads the report...would find that the problems identified in the report are not susceptible to overnight fixes...What is required is accountability!" pic.twitter.com/Ue7neu2cKV
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 21, 2023
Explaining that the Department of Justice had issued some guidelines regarding what he is "authorized to discuss" in Wednesday's public setting, Durham addressed remarks by Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) who, during his opening remarks, attempted to smear Durham and his investigation for "repeating Trump's talking points" and helping "MAGA Republicans."
Durham stressed in "the strongest terms possible" that he and his colleagues "carried out our work in good faith" and "with integrity" without concern for partisan politics. He also emphasized the fact that his team was not comprised of beltway insiders but instead made up of individuals from across the United States.
Durham stresses that his investigators are not from Washington D.C. but all over the country.
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) June 21, 2023
Continuing, Durham called Nadler's claims "simply untrue and offensive," stating again that "it matters not whether it was a Republican campaign or a Democratic campaign" at the center of his investigation, what mattered was getting to the bottom of "violations of law and policy," ones that are "serious and deserve attention from the American public and its representatives."
"Whether we're friends or we're foes, the law ought to apply to everyone in the same way," Durham added, a foreign concept to many Democrats on the Judiciary Committee.
According to Nadler, Durham's testimony on his "sobering" report was supposedly orchestrated in response to former President Trump's indictment on federal charges earlier in June. But Nadler's assertion requires the suspension of disbelief and reality. Durham's probe began years ago — before Trump left office and allegedly mishandled classified documents — and the final report was issued weeks before anyone knew whether Trump would be indicted.
What's more, the Durham hearing was scheduled weeks before Trump's indictment was known. Nadler's scrambling to minimize Durham's findings was little more than a desperate attempt to give the mainstream media a narrative — albeit a false one — to report on rather than the serious issues with the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigation used to target Trump with debunked claims of Russian collusion.
Durham again summarized the findings of his investigations, including that the FBI did not "apply the same standards to allegations received" about Hillary Clinton's campaign as were applied to the Trump campaign — or even follow established standards — notably resulting in the Crossfire Hurricane probe.
Durham confirms Crossfire Hurricane was opened on President Donald Trump's campaign over a weekend without predicate and that standards were steamrolled
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) June 21, 2023
The FBI, Durham outlined, relied on "politically funded and uncorroborated" information such as the Steele Dossier to reach its conclusions while "the FBI failed to analyze or even assess the implications of the intelligence." Rather than listening to concerns from lower-level agents, "FBI leadership dismissed" those who raised questions about the source(s) of intelligence.
Durham: A number of FBI agents have directly apologized to him for how Crossfire Hurricane was conducted
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) June 21, 2023
Durham emphasized that "although our work exposed deep concerns concerning facts about the conduct of these investigations...Russian election interference" does remain "a threat." In addition, the special counsel reiterated that responsibility for the "failures and transgressions" outlined in his probe lie "with the people who committed them."