I mentioned the John Durham report in yesterday’s post and wanted to spend a little more time on it. When former Attorney General William Barr appointed Connecticut’s U.S. Attorney Durham in May 2019 to investigate the origins of the FBI’s Russia! Russia! Russia! investigation, Durham was a veteran federal prosecutor with a good, nonpartisan reputation. Durham’s work turned into a criminal probe, with Barr eventually appointing Durham as Special Counsel on October 19, 2020, to protect his work no matter the outcome of that year’s presidential election.
Most importantly, if Durham at any time believed “it is necessary and appropriate,” he was authorized to prosecute federal crimes arising from his investigation. That’s what most conservatives hung their hats on — that Hillary Clinton and Christopher Wray and any other actors in the hoax would be punished. But, as you know, the Deep State and the Uniparty are all smoke and mirrors when it comes to actually holding someone accountable, even if it’s a conspiracy to take down a duly elected president.
Special counsel John Durham’s highly awaited report was released on Monday, in which he harshly criticized the FBI for its handling of an investigation into former President Donald Trump and noted that former CIA Director John Brennan briefed former President Barack Obama and other top national security officials regarding intelligence about a plan to “stir up a scandal” targeting Trump and Russia.
The 300-page report, which faulted the FBI for opening its probe into allegations that Trump colluded with Russia, at one point cited handwritten notes from Brennan, who had briefed Obama about the “alleged approval” by then-candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign in July 2016 of a proposal to “vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by Russian security services.”
Durham specifically made mention of “highly significant intelligence” that the FBI “received from a trusted foreign source pointing to a Clinton campaign plan to vilify Trump by tying him to Vladimir Putin so as to divert attention from her own concerns relating to her use of a private email server.” During the 2016 contest, Trump and Republicans had criticized Clinton, a former secretary of state, for her use of a private server that they said was insecure and should have brought about felony charges against her.
Brennan briefed not only Obama, but also then-Vice President Joe Biden, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and FBI Director James Comey, according to Durham’s report. It suggested that top officials in the Obama administration were aware of the plan to denigrate Trump and paint him as a Russian asset, which the former president has long described as a witch hunt meant to harm him politically.
[…]
In Durham’s report, no charges have been recommended for any of the aforementioned individuals. Durham, a former U.S. attorney in Connecticut, also did not recommend any FBI policy changes.
But he did sharply criticize the bureau for departing from previous norms in how it opened the investigation into Trump, dubbed Crossfire Hurricane. The FBI, the report said, failed to take several necessary steps before that investigation was launched.
Ah, yes … sharp criticism. That’s the ticket! Our government agents are all about issuing strongly worded letters denouncing bad behavior, but nobody ever goes to jail for their crimes. Nobody really loses their job. Of course, Republicans are vowing that NOW they’re going to provide the necessary “oversight” and “accountability” so that “this never happens again”!
“Those responsible need to be held accountable, not just for meddling in the presidential election but also for the damage done to our institutions.” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
“To ensure Americans can maintain faith in our legal system, those responsible for this miscarriage of justice must be held accountable.” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas).
“While I’m glad this report debunks yet another false narrative pushed by the Left and liberal media, the House will conduct vigorous oversight and do everything within its power to ensure this never happens again.” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.).
Isn’t that precious?
I’ll tell you what all that posturing means: nothing. Nothing will change.
At least Vivek Ramaswamy understands what it means.
Ramaswamy responded to the report telling The Epoch Times, “Enough is enough. Root out the corruption & shut down the FBI.”
“This is achievable,” the Republican presidential candidate went on. “At the local level, we have police & prosecutors. At the federal level, we have U.S. marshals & the DOJ. An intermediary bureaucracy is rife with risk for politicized corruption & it’s been happening since J. Edgar Hoover in the 60s.”
I’m all for abolishing the FBI and any number of other three-letter agencies that shield unelected bureaucrats from accountability while regulating every aspect of our lives. The FBI has become a corrupt, partisan, armed agent of the Left.
But the GOP and GOPe don’t have the spine to do it. That’s why we’ll only hear strongly worded denouncements.
Jeff Carlson’s op-ed speaks for me:
But it’s what Durham doesn’t cover that’s far and away most notable. Durham doesn’t appear to even touch on notable high-level events such as the White House meeting on Jan. 5, 2017, that included then-President Barack Obama–a meeting that appears to directly implicate both Obama and now-President Joe Biden in the coming attacks on Trump’s administration.
There’s also no effort to address the NSA’s collection of data and the unmasking of members within the Trump campaign that were highlighted by then-Rep. Devin Nunes in early 2017. While we know that some of the actions taken by the FBI and other three-letter agencies required high-level decision-making, Durham not only fails to address the actions of these high-level individuals, he didn’t even identify them.
Durham didn’t even address the supposed hack of the Democratic National Committee servers. This lack of information is made all the more frustrating by the fact that Durham’s team conducted “more than 480 interviews” and reviewed “more than six million pages of documents.” It seems clear that a big part of the story remains untold.
There’s also a generalized absence of information on anything post-January 2017. We didn’t find anything material on the Intelligence Community Assessment, which was used to push the narrative that President Trump had been compromised by Russia. We also didn’t find anything regarding the Obama administration’s targeting of Trump’s national security adviser, Gen. Michael Flynn.
Nor did Durham address the FBI’s leadership briefing of the Justice Department (DOJ) and Congress in March 2017, in which James Comey misrepresented not only the entirety of the FBI’s investigation but also failed to disclose Danchenko’s information and his complete lack of suitability as a confidential human source—which invalidated the entirety of the Steele dossier.
Importantly, there’s a complete failure on the part of Durham to provide any measure of accountability. There are virtually no criminal referrals contained in Durham’s report nor are there any material recommendations for criminal investigations into these individuals.
Once again, there’s no accountability for those who are truly guilty—and those who are truly privileged.
There’s no accountability because the entire system is built to protect the guilty. Hunter Biden, anyone? Hillary Clinton? James Comey? Barack Hussein Obama? Brandon? They are all clearly guilty, but none of them will ever truly face any justice.
As a Christian I feel frustrated when I see evil and powerful men and women getting away with their wickedness. But I return to the Psalms where I learn what I am to do:
Be still before the Lord
and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when men succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.
(Psalm 37:7)
Some time ago I wrote the word “Democrats” in the margin next to that verse in my Bible.
We can know for sure that the evil will get what is coming to them, but it it tough to be patient while watching the wicked prosper.
Good morning Dave, it is so frustrating to watch this corruption thrown in our face everyday, but as you have quoted in the Psalm, we need to be patient, but it’s not an easy thing to do. I know Jesus felt this way back then, but it would be something to watch Him deal with this evil today.
Thanks Jim. I vacillate between wanting the perpetrators to be punished and wincing because it will be truly terrible and eternal.