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Special counsel John Durham defended himself Wednesday amid intense criticism from Democrats, and also rebuffed former President Donald Trump’s attacks on former Attorney General Bill Barr, whom Durham was appointed to oversee. in his investigation of the FBI’s investigation into Russia.
Durham testified publicly before the House Judiciary Committee about the details of his report that concluded the FBI should launch only a preliminary, but not a full, investigation into connections between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia during the 2016 elections.
Despite repeated claims from Trump and Republicans that the Biden administration is “weaponizing” the Justice Department, Durham said there hasn’t been any political interference in his work. He testified that Attorney General Merrick Garland, a Biden appointee, did not obstruct any of his actions, did not come forward to discuss the investigation, and did not interfere with the investigation.
That’s the opposite of what Trump has promised to do if he wins back to the White House next year: He said he would appoint a special prosecutor to “go after” Joe Biden and his family, ordering an investigation against a opposite in a way. that broke long-standing rules, in place since the Watergate era, that kept the White House away from certain criminal investigations.
Democrats have been particularly critical of Durham’s handling of his own investigation, a concern he has dismissed.
“My concern about my reputation is the people I respect, and my family, and my Lord,” Durham said in response to a House Democrat who accused him of running a biased investigation. . “And I am perfectly comfortable with my reputation with them, sir.”
Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee strongly criticized Durham, saying, “You got nothing,” about the special counsel’s report.
“You have a good reputation,” Cohen said. “But if you hang on to Mr. Barr for too long … your reputation will be damaged, because the reputation of everyone associated with Donald Trump is damaged, he is damaged things. There is no good deal with him because you will fall under in a fire.
The top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee also criticized Durham, accusing the Trump-era prosecutor of weaponizing his “flimsy” investigation to inflame Trump’s opponents and generate headlines for “far -right conspiracy theorists.”
“Mr. Durham created a weak story built on shaky inferences and dog whistles to far-right conspiracy theories,” Rep. Jerry Nadler, a Democrat from New York, said. “Through to extend his investigation.Durham was able to keep Donald Trump’s talking points in the news, long after Trump left office.
Durham denied in his opening statement that politics motivated his investigations.
Durham also responded to Trump’s attacks on Barr, who the former president called a “grumpy pig” and a “RINO.”
“In my experience, none of those are right,” Durham told members of the House Judiciary Committee when asked about Trump’s attacks against his former attorney general.
While Durham has accepted many of Trump’s complaints about the Russia investigation, there are several key legal matters where Durham has increasingly diverged from the former president.
In addition to dismissing Trump’s insults against Barr, Durham said there is “overwhelming evidence” that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 election. (Trump accepted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s denials.) He also said special counsel Robert Mueller was a “patriot” for whom he had the “highest regard.” (Trump called Mueller a “national disgrace.”)
Durham also spoke Tuesday behind closed doors to the House Intelligence Committee, telling members of the panel that he believes some reforms are needed to the FBI and to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, despite the fact that his recent report does not contain any new recommendations, committee chairman. Mike Turner to reporters.
Turner, a Republican from Ohio, said Durham shared with committee members “his lessons learned, his big issues that he thinks need to be addressed, in addition to taking questions from us what suggestions we think can be addressed and taken. his background in,” said Turner.
“It’s very clear that Durham believes there was misconduct and when you all read his report, he outlined what the instances of misconduct were. He gave us the impression that some of the misconduct was individual . That there are bad people doing bad things. But then some of it is systemic. And some of it is where we need to change it to have higher checks, higher requirements so that it doesn’t happen again,” added to the chairman.
In May, the 300-plus page Durham report was released saying the FBI used “raw, unanalyzed, and unverified intelligence,” to launch the “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation into on Trump and Russia but used a different standard to evaluate concerns about alleged election interference regarding Hillary Clinton’s campaign. The special counsel, however, did not recommend the timing of any new charges against individuals or “wholesale changes” in how the FBI handles politically-related investigations, even yet to strongly criticize the behavior of the agency.
Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the ranking Democratic member of the committee, agreed Tuesday that reforms are needed, and that he believes the committee can work in a bipartisan way to address the FBI and FISA issues. Himes added that Durham’s report “did not find politicization” within the FBI, but “found confirmation bias, which is bad.”
“I think we’ve found collectively, that culturally and procedurally, the FBI has a lot of work to do,” Himes added. “There are all kinds of things where we have to, I think, double our efforts. If it’s not so much de-politicizing, but at least making sure that the FBI works in such a way that the American people can’t teach their activities and say, ‘That’s obviously political.’ And we have a long way to go on that.”
Turner said the issue is not political, but “these are presidential political campaigns. And that’s what has a very high level of concern, because it affects political and electoral outcomes.
Turner said “we’re glad we went ahead,” referring to the House Intelligence Committee, “because I think that having him in this (closed-door) environment allows him to be more forthcoming and more sharing his thoughts and ideas. Surely tomorrow will have a different purpose.”
Himes echoed that sentiment, telling reporters, “I know the world is different when the cameras are rolling,” he said, referring to Wednesday’s public hearing.
“I tell you that on both sides, there is an attempt to get the truth than what I hear that you can see tomorrow, which is an attempt that may lie or angle the truth in the small service of a political agenda,” added said Himes. “That didn’t happen in our meeting.”
This story and headline has been updated with additional developments.
