John Durham, the Trump-era special counsel who spent four years investigating the alleged Russia collusion inquiry, recently appeared before Congress, where he criticized the FBI for mishandling the 2016 investigation involving Donald Trump.
In his testimony to the House Judiciary Committee, Durham claimed that the FBI relied on politically funded and unverified opposition research, particularly the Steele dossier, funded by Hillary Clinton’s campaign. He alleged that the FBI knowingly used the dossier in their FISA applications, despite its questionable origins.
Durham contrasted the treatment of Trump and Clinton during their respective investigations. He stated that while the FBI opened the Russia collusion case against Trump based on false pretenses, they closed the investigation into Clinton’s mishandling of classified materials without pressing any charges.
Durham spent nearly six hours before the House Judiciary Committee and rarely offered any new information, saying he didn’t want to stray from his report.
Donald Trump had hoped that Durham would uncover a deep-state conspiracy within the FBI and recommend prosecution of high-ranking FBI officials. While Durham did identify some problematic actions by the FBI staff at the start of the Russia investigation, he fell short of satisfying Trump’s desire for vengeance.
Republican representatives like Matt Gaetz of Florida were disappointed that Durham hadn’t substantiated the claim that the “deep state” tried to prevent Trump from becoming president in 2016. Gaetz accused Durham of being part of a “cover-up,” to which Durham responded by calling Gaetz’s comments “offensive.”
Democratic Representative Steve Cohen of Tennessee warned Durham that his “reputation will be damaged” due to his perceived biases in the investigation and the ensuing report. Durham responded by stating that he was content with his standing with God and his family, which was what mattered to him.
Representative Ted Lieu, a Democrat from California, accused Durham of being a “political hack.”
Conversely, Republicans commended Durham, but felt he hadn’t gone far enough in proving that the Trump-Russia investigation was baseless and should not have been initiated to begin with.
