Washington- Special Investigator John Durham has released his final report into the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and ties between former President Donald Trump’s campaign and Moscow, accusing the FBI of acting on “unanalysed and unconfirmed intelligence.”
Investigator Durham was appointed by former Attorney General William Barr in 2019, and issued his final report in 306 pages.
The report stated that the FBI began investigations to assess concerns about alleged election interference based on prior biases against Trump, and concluded that former FBI director James Comey had no evidence of suspected collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow before the investigation began.
The special investigator stated that the same office used different criteria with regard to the campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, noting that the latter and her team received security briefings from the “FBI” during the presidential election campaign with the aim of securing them against any “outrageous” attempts by foreign powers, and they did not The office provides this service to the Trump campaign.
The report concluded, “The Department of Justice and the FBI have failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law.”
They deceived the people
Congressional Republicans welcomed the report, strengthening their arguments that federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies have been politicized by the Democratic Party and used to undermine their political rivals.
“The long-awaited report confirmed what the American people already know, that some senior officials at the highest levels of government attempted to overthrow democracy when they illegally armed the federal government against Trump,” said House Republican Caucus Chair Elise Stefanik.
For his part, Trump commented on the report’s findings by saying, “Wonderful. After extensive research, Special Counsel Durham concluded that the FBI should not have launched the Trump-Russia investigation. In other words, the people have been deceived just as they are now being deceived by those who They don’t want to see American greatness.”
It is worth noting that the Robert Mueller investigations – about Russian interference in the elections – resulted in dozens of criminal charges being filed against some Trump campaign aides and employees for crimes that include lying to the authorities and financial crimes. However, it did not find that the Trump campaign and Russia conspired together to influence the election.
And dozens of former senior officials of the CIA and the FBI had warned – in a message published by the media ahead of the 2016 elections – of the possibility of suspicious relations between Moscow and the Trump campaign, and that Russia supports Trump’s efforts to reach the White House.
Requirements for reform
The FBI responded to the report in a statement saying that dozens of corrective actions have already been implemented as a result of Durham’s investigation.
The statement added that the FBI’s current leadership has already implemented dozens of corrective actions because of these investigations. If these reforms had been in place in 2016, the errors identified in the report could have been prevented.
In congressional testimony, FBI Director Chris Wray said the bureau has implemented more than 40 changes aimed at making the use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act more stringent in response to the findings of Russia interference investigations.
Lack of trust
Noted constitutional jurist Alan Dershowitz stated, “The Durham Report is a prime example of why Americans lack confidence in government,” adding, “I think the report reveals that Americans are right to distrust government, not even civil servants.”
Dershowitz, professor emeritus at Harvard Law School, said the intelligence community, including the FBI and CIA, saw and continues to see Trump as a “danger” to them and the country.
And he considered that Trump’s political enemies had launched an unconstitutional campaign to prevent him from regaining the presidency, adding that in this process a challenge to basic American principles, such as due process and freedom of expression.
Dershowitz – who previously participated in Trump’s defense team during his first impeachment attempt – demanded that there be consequences for the people who were involved in the investigations.
For his part, Representative Jim Gordon (Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee) announced that he had sent a letter to Durham, asking the special investigator to testify at a hearing on May 25.
