GOP lawmakers say Durham probe shows FBI was 'weaponized' against Trump
Republican lawmakers demanded “consequences” and argued the FBI was “weaponized” against Donald Trump in the wake of findings by special counsel John Durham’s probe that the bureau lacked evidence to launch a “seriously flawed” investigation into the former president’s alleged collusion with Russia in 2016.
The 76-year-old former president himself called the evidence in Durham’s report, released on Monday, proof that “the American Public was scammed” when the FBI opened an investigation into his campaign over since debunked allegations that it was colluding with Russia.
“WOW! After extensive research, Special Counsel John Durham concludes the FBI never should have launched the Trump-Russia Probe! In other words, the American Public was scammed, just as it is being scammed right now by those who don’t want to see GREATNESS for AMERICA!“ Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Monday.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said the report revealed “that Obama’s FBI had zero actual evidence of collusion when they kicked off the political witch hunt of Donald Trump.”
“We have said this all along. Now there must be consequences,” Scalise wrote on Twitter.
Republicans called for “consequences” for the FBI and DOJ after special counsel John Durham released his report on the Trump-Russia probe Monday. AP
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) echoed Scalise, vowing to hold those responsible for the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation, code-named Crossfire Hurricane, “accountable.”
“The long-awaited Durham Report confirmed what the American people already know; that individuals at the highest levels of government attempted to overthrow democracy when they illegally weaponized the federal government against Donald J. Trump,” Stefanik said in a statement.
“This criminal abuse of power went all the way up to the Oval Office where President Obama and then Vice-President Joe Biden were in on it from the very beginning. This was an unlawful attempt by the politicized FBI and DOJ to meddle in our elections.
Former President Donald Trump cited Durham’s findings as evidence “the American public was scammed.” AP
“The entire false smear was manufactured and paid for by political opponents of Donald Trump and perpetrated by the Left’s salivating mainstream media stenographers. Crossfire Hurricane was nothing more than an illegal, unlawful, and unAmerican abuse of power. I am more committed than ever to ensuring that those involved are held accountable and face criminal prosecution,” the congresswoman concluded.
Far-right Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) went a step further, posting on Twitter that the FBI should be defunded and dismantled following the release of Durham’s findings.
“John Durham concluded that ‘neither U.S. nor the Intelligence Community appears to have possessed any actual evidence of collusion … This is what weaponized govt. looks like and why I seek to defund the FBI/DOJ. Imagine what else they are doing too,” Biggs tweeted.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise chastised the former Obama administration’s “FBI” for the Trump probe. Getty Images
Later adding in a separate tweet, “Defund and dismantle the FBI.”
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) wrote on Twitter that the “gravity of the misconduct uncovered by Mr. Durham cannot be overstated.”
Lee argued that at the very least Durham found “a malicious use of federal law-enforcement officers to conduct a contrived investigation utterly lacking any valid, factual foundation from the very beginning.”
“That is itself incredibly troubling—and also unconstitutional,” Lee added. “But this was SO MUCH WORSE than that. It was an effort to use use a powerful, long-respected, federal law-enforcement agency to render a presidential candidate unelectable — entirely in the absence of any valid, good-faith basis for doing so.”
The Republican senator argued the Crossfire Hurricane investigation “is as corrupt and as subversive of the Constitution as it gets.”
“Democrats and Republicans should be equally offended by this breathtakingly corrupt act,” he said.
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, dismissed Durham’s findings on Monday, calling the report a “political rehashing” of what the Department of Justice Inspector General found in 2019.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) (left) called the report proof of the federal government being weaponized against Trump. REUTERS
“At long last, after two failed trials and at the cost of more than 6.5 million taxpayer dollars, the Durham investigation has come to an end. The accompanying report is, sadly, pretty much what we expected from this effort,” Nadler said in a statement.
“Mr. Durham has, one last time, over promised and under delivered. Nothing in this report changes the outcome of the Mueller investigation, which resulted in multiple convictions, found more than one hundred contacts between the 2016 Trump campaign and the Russian government, and substantial reason to believe that Donald Trump had committed obstruction of justice,” he added.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said Monday that he has invited Durham to testify before his panel next week to further discuss his findings.
The FBI told The Post in a statement that numerous changes have been put in place at the bureau since the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
“The conduct in 2016 and 2017 that Special Counsel Durham examined was the reason that current FBI leadership already implemented dozens of corrective actions, which have now been in place for some time,” the FBI said.
Rep. Jim Jordan said on Monday he had invited Durham to testify before the House Judiciary Committee next week. AP
“Had those reforms been in place in 2016, the missteps identified in the report could have been prevented. This report reinforces the importance of ensuring the FBI continues to do its work with the rigor, objectivity, and professionalism the American people deserve and rightly expect,” the bureau added.
Former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to FBI agents about conversations he had with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak but was ultimately pardoned by Trump in the final weeks of his presidency, said in a statement on Monday that Duraham’s report is “further vindication that the FBI investigation that targeted and persecuted me and my family should have never occurred.”
“This report provides what we knew all along: the Trump-Russia investigation was a conspiracy, not based on fact, but instead, politically driven,” Flynn said, adding that he is “still angered that this ever was allowed to happen in the first place.”
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is reportedly considering running for president in 2024 and could be Trump’s top primary opponent, said the Durham report “confirmed what we already knew: weaponized federal agencies manufactured a false conspiracy theory about Trump-Russia collusion.”
“It reminds us of the need to clean house at these agencies, as they’ve never been held accountable for this egregious abuse of power,” he added.
Source: New York Post
