John Durham, the Trump-era special counsel who has pursued four years of politically charged investigation into the Russia probe, accused the FBI of “lacking analytical rigor.” The final report was released on Monday A 2016 probe by the bureau into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow.
Mr. Durham’s 306-page report did not reveal substantial new information about the FBI’s handling of the Russia probe, dubbed the Crossfire hurricane. Associates once Mr. Durham suggested that he would find out.
Instead, Attorney General Merrick B. The report — released without substantive comment or redactions by Garland — repeated flaws previously exposed in the investigation, including a 2019 inspector general’s report, while the FBI suffered from confirmation bias. Mr Trump’s ties to Russia.
“Throughout the Crossfire hurricane, facts and circumstances inconsistent with the premise that Trump and/or individuals associated with the Trump campaign engaged in a collusive or collusive relationship with the Russian government were ignored or simply discounted,” Mr. Durham announced.
Mr. Durham largely recanted criticisms expressed in a separate investigation and continued to insist that Hillary Clinton’s campaign helped fuel the Russia probe. In 2019, an inspector general found that the FBI had tampered with wiretap applications used in the investigation.
“Our investigation revealed a lack of analytical rigor by senior FBI personnel in the information they reviewed, particularly information obtained from politically connected individuals and organizations,” Mr. Durham wrote. “This information in part fueled and perpetuated the Crossfire hurricane and contributed to the need for special counsel Mueller’s investigation.”
But in using the word “induced”, Mr. Durham’s Report, Mr. Echoing a conspiracy theory advanced by Trump’s supporters, the FBI opened an investigation in July 2016 based on the so-called Steele Dossier, anti-probe probes allegedly funded by the Clinton campaign. It was later devalued.
Actually, Mr. As Durham acknowledged elsewhere in the report, the document did not reach those investigators until mid-September. Instead, the FBI opened an investigation based on a tip from Australian diplomats, following WikiLeaks’ release of hacked Democratic emails, suggesting that a Trump campaign aide previously knew Russia would release damaging information to the Clinton campaign.
The special counsel’s findings on Friday Mr. A department spokeswoman said the documents were sent to Garland and provided to Congress and the news media without any additions or changes.
