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Special counsel John Durham went after House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jerry Nadler (D-NY) Wednesday for accusing his team of “glaring investigative missteps” during its four-year probe of the FBI investigation into alleged collusion between former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.

Durham, 73, singled out the Manhattan Democrat during his opening statement at a panel hearing, saying he and his colleagues “carried out our work in good faith, with integrity and in the spirit of following the facts wherever they lead without fear or favor” and that “the findings set forth in this report are serious and deserve attention from the American public and its representatives.”

“At no time and in no sense did we act with a purpose to further partisan political ends. To the extent that somebody suggests otherwise — that’s simply untrue and offensive,” he told the House panel of his 306-page report following Nadler’s opening remarks.

“For one, we found troubling violations of law and policy in the conduct of highly consequential investigations, directed at members of the presidential campaign, and ultimately a presidential administration,” Durham went on. “To me, it matters not whether it was a Republican campaign or a Democrat campaign. It was a presidential campaign.”

Nadler, 76, said in his opening remarks that the Durham probe — which found the FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign was “seriously flawed” — was itself “a deeply flawed vessel” and “failed to uncover any wrongdoing.”

“It may be hard to remember, but at the outset of the Durham investigation, Mr. Durham was a well-respected career prosecutor with a solid reputation,” Nadler went on. “The attorney general is supposed to appoint the special counsel to prevent the appearance of politicization in a criminal investigation. Mr. Durham could well have lived up to that expectation. Instead, what we got was a political exercise that operated with ethical ambiguity and existed to perpetuate Donald Trump’s unfounded claims.”


  Special counsel John Durham went after House Judiciary Committee member Jerry Nadler for accusing his team of “glaring investigative missteps” during its four-year probe of possible links between Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia. Getty Images Special counsel John Durham went after House Judiciary Committee member Jerry Nadler for accusing his team of “glaring investigative missteps” during its four-year probe of possible links between Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia. Getty Images

Far-left Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) stuck with Nadler’s theme, arguing Durham’s report was “an attempt to undermine the findings of the Mueller investigation” and referring to it as a “political investigation conducted on behalf of the twice-impeached, twice-indicted, former white supremacist in chief, Donald Trump.”

House Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) also alleged during his line of questioning that Durham had “partisan” motivations when the former special counsel pointed out that former Trump campaign members had not been convicted of crimes involving Russian collusion.

“Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was convicted, correct?” he questioned.

“That’s correct,” Durham replied while attempting to qualify that the conviction was not related to alleged Trump-Russia ties,

“Trump’s former policy adviser to the campaign George Papadopoulos was convicted, correct?” Lieu asked.

“That’s correct,” Durham said.

“Trump’s former deputy campaign manager Rick Gates was convicted, correct?” Lieu also asked.

“Not in connection with the Russian matters,” Durham responded.


  Nadler said in his opening remarks that the Durham probe was itself “a deeply flawed vessel” and “failed to uncover any wrongdoing.” C-SPAN Nadler said in his opening remarks that the Durham probe was itself “a deeply flawed vessel” and “failed to uncover any wrongdoing.” C-SPAN

“Mr. Durham, you can hold yourself out as an objective Department of Justice official or as a partisan hack. And the more that you try to spin the facts and not answer my questions, you sound like the latter person he’s asked this,” Lieu said.

A federal jury convicted Manafort in 2018 on eight counts of tax fraud, bank fraud and failing to file foreign financial transactions related to work in Ukraine.

He pleaded guilty the same year to witness tampering and failing to register as a foreign agent on behalf of the Ukrainian government and other Ukrainian entities.

The charges were brought by former special counsel Robert Mueller, and Manafort was later sentenced to more than seven years in prison for his crimes.

Lieu went on to thank the FBI for launching the Trump-Russia probe, saying that the “Trump associates who committed crimes were held accountable.”

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) laid into Durham for even taking up the investigation, saying it hurt the 40-year veteran prosecutor’s credibility.

“You got no convictions. You got nothing. It was all set up to hurt the Mueller report — which was correct and was redacted — to hurt the Bidens and to help Trump. And you were a part of it,” Cohen said.

“You had a good reputation,” he added. “But the longer you hold on to Mr. Barr and this report that Mr. Barr gave you as special counsel, your reputation will be damaged.”

Durham responded to the congressman’s charge by saying, “My concern about my reputation is with the people who I respect, and my family, and my Lord, and I’m perfectly comfortable with my reputation with them, sir.”

Durham also took a shot at Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) during a tense exchange over a 2016 meeting Donald Trump Jr. took with a Russian lawyer who allegedly had incriminating information about Hillary Clinton.

“Sure, people get phone calls all the time from individuals who claim to have information like that,” Durham said of the interaction.

“Really?” Schiff replied. “This son of a presidential candidate gets calls all the time from a foreign government offering dirt on their opponent. Is that what you’re saying?”


  House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan questioned Durham during a hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building on June 21, 2023. Getty Images House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan questioned Durham during a hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building on June 21, 2023. Getty Images

“I don’t think that’s unique in your experience,” Durham shot back.

The quip was an apparent reference to a stunt that Russian radio hosts pulled on Schiff in 2018, when the pranksters called the California Democrat and offered to help him get “pictures of naked Trump” that Russian President Vladimir Putin was using to blackmail the then-president.

The compromising photos, Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov told the lawmaker, came from an alleged affair Trump had with Russian model and singer Olga Buzova in 2013.

Schiff told the pair “obviously we would welcome the chance” to obtain the information but his office later said the call was reported to “appropriate law enforcement and security personnel” because “of our belief that it was probably bogus.”

Nadler also said Durham’s report ignored “key evidence related to allegations of contact between the Trump campaign and the Russian government,” including a thumb drive of cellphone communications between the two and “questionable computer contacts between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank.”

He added that it “also fails to recommend a single remedial measure that the Justice Department or the FBI might take … largely because the DOJ and FBI have already implemented the changes recommended by the inspector general three and a half years ago.”

The report, which was released May 15, did not recommend significant reforms, but Durham met with leaders of the House Intelligence Committee behind closed doors Tuesday to express the need for changes at the FBI.

“It was interesting to hear from Mr. Durham, that he has concerns that there are reforms that need to go into place and then there are still issues that need to be addressed,” Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-Ohio) told reporters after the meeting, noting that issues related to surveillance warrant applications were top of mind.

Durham pointed out in his opening statement that abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act led to charges for one former FBI agent and that others had “omitted references to what was clearly relevant and highly exculpatory information that should have been disclosed to the FISA court.”

“As our report details,” he told Judiciary Committee members, “the FBI was too willing to accept and use politically funded and uncorroborated opposition research such as the Steele dossier.”

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