Special Counsel John Durham testified before Congress on Wednesday about FBI corruption in the 2016 presidential election.
This marked Durham’s first public testimony since he released a report in May concluding that the FBI’s investigation into Donald Trump’s alleged collusion with the Russian government was unfounded.
Durham testified to the House Judiciary Committee that the FBI ignored intelligence obtained by the CIA indicating that Hillary Clinton had authorized a plan to associate Russia with then-candidate Trump.
Durham told the committee Wednesday that the FBI failed to “sufficiently scrutinize information it received” and did not “apply the same standards to allegations it received about the Clinton and Trump campaigns.”
“The findings set forth in this report are serious,” he said. “This is not an easy fix. It is going to take time to rebuild the public’s confidence.”
Durham claimed, “The FBI was too willing to accept and use politically-funded and uncorroborated opposition research, such as the Steele dossier.”
“The FBI relied on the dossier and FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) applications, knowing there was likely material originating from a political campaign or political opponent,” he continued.
He said the FBI “did so even after the president of the United States, the FBI and CIA directors, and others received briefings about intelligence suggesting that there was a Clinton campaign plan underway to stir up a scandal tying Trump to Russia.”
House Democrats questioned and criticized Durham, with some alleging his management of the investigation was biased.
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) alleged Durham “constructed a flimsy story built on shaky inferences and dog whistles to far-right conspiracy theorists.”
Durham denied that his investigation was politically motivated.
Furthermore, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) told Durham his “reputation will be damaged” by his association with former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr and former President Donald Trump.
“My concern about my reputation is with the people who I respect, and my family, and my Lord,” Durham replied. “And I’m perfectly comfortable with my reputation with them, sir.”
Durham did say, however, that there was “substantial evidence” of interference in the 2016 presidential election by the Russian government and called former FBI Director Robert Mueller, who investigated Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia, a “patriot.”
Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) said, “It was very clear that Durham believes that there was misconduct and if you’ve all been reading his report, he lays out what those instances of misconduct are.”
“He gave us the impression that some of the misconduct is individualized. That there were bad people doing bad things,” Turner continued. “But then some of it is systemic. And some of it is where we need to change it so that here’s higher reviews, higher requirements for this to ever happen again.”
Durham’s full testimony can be viewed here.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, an FBI agent was recently suspended after being accused by House Democrats of leaking sensitive information to the press, further raising concerns about the potential politicization of the agency.