- Special Counsel John Durham released a scathing report Monday finding the FBI ‘failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law’
- The probe has cost taxpayers over $6million over four years
- Crossfire Hurricane was the internal code name for an investigation by the FBI that began in 2016 to look into possible links between the then-Trump campaign and Russia
- Read the Durham report in FULL – and the timeline of the investigation that led him to conclude the FBI should have NEVER investigated Trump-Russia collusion
By KELLY LACO, EXECUTIVE EDITOR OF POLITICS FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 15:36 EDT, 15 May 2023 | UPDATED: 18:28 EDT, 15 May 2023
Special Counsel John Durham found that the FBI did not have enough ‘factual evidence’ to investigate allegations of Trump-Russia collusion, in scathing report obtained by DailyMail.com Monday.
Durham’s report, which is over 300 pages, is a comprehensive summary of findings related to whether the then-Trump campaign in 2016 colluded with Russia to meddle with the election outcome.
It found that the the Department of Justice and the FBI ‘failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law’ when launching the Trump-Russia probe.
The special counsel transmitted the report on his four-years-long investigation costing over $6 million in taxpayer dollars to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday. The attorney general provided a copy Monday to top members of Congress including Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, Ranking Member Lindsey Graham, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, who is investigating the FBI’s political ‘weaponization,’ and Ranking Member Jerry Nadler.
Durham writes in the report: ‘Based on the evidence gathered in the multiple exhaustive and costly federal investigations of these matters, including the instant investigation, 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.’
Crossfire Hurricane was the internal code name for an investigation by the FBI that began in 2016 to look into possible links between the then-Trump campaign and Russia. However, it has since been exposed that the entire basis for the investigation was founded on false information.
As a result, Special Counsel John Durham was appointed in 2019 by then-Attorney General Bill Barr to look into misconduct related to the Crossfire Hurricane probe.
‘The speed and manner in which the FBI opened and investigated Crossfire Hurricane during the presidential election season based on raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence also reflected a noticeable departure from how it approached prior matters involving possible attempted foreign election inference plans aimed at the Clinton campaign,’ the report continues.
‘FBI records prepared by Strzok in February and March 2017 show at the time of opening Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI had no information in its holding indicating that any time during the campaign anyone in the Trump campaign had been in contact with any Russian intelligence officials.’
The document goes on to detail many missteps by the FBI in its initial opening of the probe, which was predicated on an unvetted dossier created by British spy Christopher Steele.
‘Our investigation determined that the Crossfire Hurricane investigators did not and could not corroborate any of the substantive allegations contained in the Steele reporting.’
The report mentions Igor Danchenko – Steele’s primary sub-source – saying that Danchenko was also ‘unable to provide any corroborating evidence to support the Steele allegations.’
Durham blasts the FBI for failing to interview Charles Dolan – a Democratic public relations operative who was connected to Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary and who was a ‘definite source’ for at least one of the allegations contained in the Steele report.
The report includes blistering language saying that Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) applications opened by the FBI as part of Crossfire Hurricane were not created out of a mission of ‘strict fidelity to the law.’
FBI personnel working on the FISA applications ‘displayed, at best, a cavalier attitude towards accuracy and completeness’ and ‘disregarded important requirements’ on multiple occasions, says Durham.
He says it is evidence that the FBI officials ‘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.’
The FBI at the time of Crossfire Hurricane’s opening was led by former Director James Comey and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
Although the report does not recommend any ‘wholesale changes’ in guidelines or policies of the Department of Justice, it says there is a ‘continuing need’ for the agencies to recognize the lack of ‘analytical rigor’ and apparent ‘confirmation bias.’
The FBI responded to the report in a statement Monday saying that there are ‘corrective actions’ in place now that would have prevented ‘missteps in 2016.’
‘The conduct in 2016 and 2017 that Special Counsel Durham examined was the reason that current FBI leadership already implemented dozens of corrective actions, which have now been in place for some time,’ the FBI told DailyMail.com.
‘Had those reforms been in place in 2016, the missteps identified in the report could have been prevented. 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.’
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan confirmed to DailyMail.com that he will be requesting Durham appear before his committee next week. He has already reached out to DOJ regarding his demand, sending a letter requesting Durham to be on Capitol Hill next Thursday, May 25 at 9 a.m. ET.
Former President Trump celebrated the findings in the report in a post to his Truth Social account Monday afternoon.
‘WOW! After extensive research, Special Counsel John Durham concludes the FBI never should have launched the Trump-Russia Probe!’
‘In other words, the American Public was scammed, just as it is being scammed right now by those who don’t want to see GREATNESS for AMERICA!’ the former president continued.
Trump had repeatedly railed about the Russia probe, blasting it as a ‘witch hunt’ over the years.
In 2019, Special Counsel Robert Mueller released a report finding that there was no collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign in 2016.
Three individuals have been indicted by Durham throughout his four-year probe including Clinton attorney Michael Sussmann, Igor Danchenko and former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith.
Durham has only successfully obtained one conviction out of his years-long investigation – Clinesmith.
Clinesmith pleaded guilty to illegally altering an email that was then used as the basis to obtain a ‘surveillance warrant’ on Carter Page, who was serving as a Trump campaign staffer in 2016.
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