Special counsel John Durham’s report on the FBI’s “Crossfire Hurricane” Russia probe of Donald Trump vindicates the former president’s belief that he was targeted by enemies in the Justice Department and will only embolden Trump on the 2024 campaign trail.
“Based on the review of Crossfire Hurricane and related intelligence activities, we conclude that the Department and FBI failed to uphold their important mission of strict fidelity to the law in connection with certain events and activities described in this report,” Durham wrote in his 306-page report.
The special counsel appointed by the Trump administration nearly four years ago – which has so far failed to send anyone to jail – rapped the FBI for relying on “raw, unanalyzed and uncorroborated intelligence” to support its Russia probe.
Durham also wrote there was a “predisposition to open an investigation into Trump” among “certain personnel” at the FBI.
No kidding.
The report now becomes political fodder for Trump and Republicans as they hit the campaign trail in a bid to take back the White House in 2024.
Trump immediately posted that the report revealed that “the American public was scammed, just as it is being scammed right now by those who don’t want to see GREATNESS for AMERICA.”
Democrats and media like the New York Times are already portraying Durham as a “Trump era” special counsel – implying he was slanted toward the former president.
The strongest language in the report accuses the FBI of a double standard in pursuing discredited intelligence about Trump’s campaign and Russia while ignoring foreigners’ influence over Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
But Durham also stops short of recommending a major overhaul of the FBI and does not directly accuse the agency of political bias in deciding to go after Trump.
That won’t stop the former president from pointing to the report on the campaign to buttress his supporters’ belief that the Justice Department was hell-bent on taking down Trump based on political bias.
Just don’t tell that to the FBI, which is now vigorously defending itself and claiming there is nothing to see in the report.
“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 FBI said in a statement Monday afternoon.
But Attorney General Merrick Garland, who sent copies of the report to lawmakers on Monday, would not say whether he agreed with the Durham report.
The report was continually described as “long-awaited” in media accounts on Monday, and so much time has passed from the 2016 campaign that voters may need a refresher on the “Crossfire Hurricane” case.
