2023-05-15 20:19:00
Durham’s findings are expected to deepen the partisan divide over the FBI’s bias against the former US president
John Durham, the special advisor under Donald Trump in charge of reviewing the investigation into the former US president’s relations with Russia, concluded that the US authorities did not have sufficient information to open the case and investigate Trump.
That finding, released in a final report after a nearly four-year investigation, sharply criticized the FBI for how it launched an investigation into Trump’s 2016 campaign and his possible contacts with Russia without checking the sources of the information.
“The objective facts show that the FBI’s handling of significant aspects of the case was seriously deficient,” Durham wrote, noting that the bureau relied on “raw, unanalysed, unverified intelligence.”
Durham was hired in 2019 by then-Attorney General Bill Barr to investigate the origins of the FBI investigation, a move former President Trump celebrated.
Trump himself has repeatedly raised expectations about the Durham investigation, suggesting it would uncover the “crime of the century”.
The Durham investigation resulted in several indictments, but limited results in court.
The Special Counsel’s review of the Trump-Russia investigation has stoked partisan tensions over the credibility of the FBI and the Justice Department, and the final report released Monday is likely to exacerbate those tensions.
Shortly after its release, conservatives quickly seized on the findings to portray the FBI as biased against Trump.
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