by Mark Schwendau
Special Counsel John Durham released his report on the Russia collusion probe regarding former President Donald Trump. His damning final report that took three years to investigate faulted the FBI for having no verified intelligence or evidence when it began its Crossfire Hurricane probe of President Donald Trump’s campaign in the summer of 2016.
“Neither U.S. law enforcement nor the Intelligence Community appears to have possessed any actual evidence of collusion in their holdings at the commencement of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation,” Durham wrote in his 300-plus page report sent to Congress and others and made public today.
Durham found fault with the FBI and DOJ for failing to follow their own standards in allowing the probe to persist, including surveilling an American citizen without basis under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
“Based on the review of Crossfire Hurricane and related intelligence activities, we concluded the Department and the 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.
“The FBI personnel also repeatedly disregarded important requirements when they continued to seek renewals of that FISA surveillance while acknowledging — both then and in hindsight — that they did not genuinely believe there was probable cause to believe that the target was knowingly engaged in clandestine intelligence activities on behalf of a foreign power,” he wrote.
Durham’s final report touched off instant outrage on Capitol Hill, where House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan tweeted he planned to summon Durham for testimony next week.
Durham faulted the FBI for relying on evidence exclusively obtained from Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, including the Steele dossier, saying leadership lacked the necessary distrust of politically motivated allegations.
Previously, there was talk on Capitol Hill about defunding the FBI for Director Christopher Wray’s refusal to turn over non-classified documents to House Republicans containing damning evidence implicating Joe Biden in a money laundering pay-to-play scheme when he was Vice President.
An FBI whistleblower revealed the existence of this document and was rumored to have disappeared over the weekend. Still, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R GA) said that the whistleblower in the GOP investigation into the Biden family is not missing. Greene, on the House Oversight Committee, tweeted today, “Just to be clear. Our whistleblower for Joe Biden is not missing.”
The Durham report revealed, “Our investigation also revealed that senior FBI personnel displayed a serious lack of analytical rigor towards the information that they received, especially information received from politically affiliated persons and entities. This information in part triggered and sustained Crossfire Hurricane and contributed to the subsequent need for Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation.”
The report said, “In particular, there was significant reliance on investigative leads provided or funded (directly or indirectly) by Trump’s political opponents. The Department did not adequately examine or question these materials and the motivations of those providing them, even when at about the same time the Director of the FBI and others learned of significant and potentially contrary intelligence.”
Copyright © 2023 by Mark S. Schwendau
Mark S. Schwendau is a retired technology professor who has always had a sideline in news-editorial writing where his byline has been, “Bringing little known news to people who simply want to know the truth.” He classifies himself as a Christian conservative who God cast to be a realist. His website is www.IDrawIWrite.Tech.