A report by Special Counsel John Durham released Monday found the FBI should not have launched a full investigation into the connections between former President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia during the 2016 election, with the report saying the FBI used “raw, unanalyzed and uncorroborated intelligence” to justify the investigation.
FILE - Special counsel John Durham, the prosecutor appointed to investigate potential government ... [+]
The special counsel didn’t recommend any new charges or any procedural changes about the FBI’s handling of “politically charged investigations” moving forward, despite the report’s heavy criticism of the investigation.
The report determined the FBI used a different standard when deciding whether to investigate Trump and Russia than they did when considering an investigation of Trump’s then-opponent, Hillary Clinton, with regard to alleged election interference via accepting donations from foreign entities in exchange for potential influence if elected.
The report also found “certain personnel” involved in the decision to open the investigation into Trump had “a predisposition” to do so, citing the now-infamous text exchange between former FBI Agent Peter Strzok and then-FBI attorney Lisa Page, in which Strzok told Page that Trump wouldn’t become president because “we’ll stop it.”
Durham’s investigation, which has been going on since 2019, ended with just one conviction, that of Kevin Clinesmith, an FBI lawyer who admitted to doctoring an email about a surveillance warrant but avoided jail time.
The findings in Durham’s report clash with a previous Justice Department investigation into the FBI’s Russia probe, according to CNN, which recognized there were problems with the investigation but found it was an appropriate situation to investigate.
Special counsel John Durham concludes FBI never should have launched full Trump-Russia probe (CNN)
Prosecutor ends probe of FBI's Trump-Russia investigation with harsh criticism, but no new charges (AP)