2023-05-16 01:12:02
WASHINGTON (AP) — An investigation into the origins of the FBI’s investigation into ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign has finally concluded, and the prosecutor in charge has released a long-awaited report exposing big flaws.
The report, the culmination of a four-year investigation into possible misconduct by federal government officials, contains harsh criticism of the FBI but few significant revelations. But it will arm Trump supporters who have long criticized the Russia probe, as well as Trump’s detractors who say the Durham team’s limited court record shows his investigation was a politically motivated sham. .
Here’s a look at the inquiry and report:
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WHO IS JOHN DURHAM?
Durham has spent decades as a Justice Department prosecutor, and his previous assignments include investigations into the close relationship between the FBI and Boston mobsters, and the CIA’s destruction of videos of its interrogations of terror suspects.
In 2019, he was appointed to investigate possible misconduct by federal government officials examining Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether there was any illicit coordination between the Kremlin and the Trump presidential campaign.
Despite the meager results — a plea deal and two acquittals — that fell short of Trump’s expectations, Durham was able to continue his work well into the administration of his successor, President Joe Biden, thanks in part to William Barr appointed Durham as a special prosecutor for the Justice Department shortly before Barr resigned as attorney general in 2020.
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WHY DID TRUMP’S JUSTICE DEPARTMENT CONSIDER SUCH DESIGNATION NECESSARY?
The appointment came weeks following another special counsel, Robert Mueller, ended his investigation into possible connections between Russia and the Trump campaign. This investigation gave rise to more than twenty criminal cases, including charges once morest half a dozen close associates of Trump.
While he did not accuse any Trump aides of coordinating with Russia to influence the election, he did find that Moscow interfered on Trump’s behalf and that the campaign welcomed the aid, rather than discouraged it.
From the start, Barr was highly skeptical of the basis for the investigation, telling Congress that “there was spying” on the campaign.
He appointed an outside prosecutor to probe into possible misconduct by government agencies that were involved in gathering intelligence and conducting the investigation, and even accompanied Durham on a trip to Italy to meet with officials there as part of the probe. .
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WERE THERE PROBLEMS WITH THE RUSSIA INVESTIGATION?
Yes, and an inquiry by the Justice Department’s inspector general’s office had already identified many.
The internal watchdog report revealed that the FBI’s requests for warrants to wiretap the communications of a former Trump campaigner, Carter Paige, contained significant errors and omitted information that might have undermined or undermined the premise of the request.
The cumulative effect of those errors, according to the report, was to make “information supporting probable cause appear more robust than it actually was.”
Still, the inspector general’s office found no evidence that the investigators were politically biased, saying there was a legitimate basis for launching a full-scale investigation into possible collusion, though Durham differs.
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WHAT CRIMINAL CASES DID YOU BRING AND WHAT WERE THE RESULTS?
Durham filed three cases during his investigation, but only one resulted in a guilty plea, and that was a case referred to him by the Justice Department’s office of inspector general. In none of the three cases were Mueller’s fundamental findings that Russia had radically interfered with the 2016 election and that the Trump campaign had accepted the aid, rather than rejected it, been thrown out.
Kevin Clinesmith, a former FBI lawyer, pleaded guilty in 2020 to tampering with an email related to spying on a Trump campaign aide. He was sentenced to probation.
But two other cases, involving false statements to the FBI, resulted in acquittals by the jury.
Michael Sussmann, a lawyer for Hillary Clinton’s campaign, was found not guilty of lying to the FBI during a meeting in which he handed over computer data he wanted the FBI to investigate. A separate jury acquitted Igor Danchenko, a Russian-American analyst, of charges that he lied to the FBI regarding his involvement in creating a discredited dossier on Trump.
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WHAT SPECIFICALLY DID DURHAM DISCOVER?
Durham found that the FBI acted rashly and relied on raw and unconfirmed intelligence when it opened the investigation into Trump and Russia.
He said that, when the investigation was opened, the FBI did not have any information regarding the existence of a contact between Trump associates and Russian intelligence officials.
He also asserted that FBI investigators were prone to “confirmation bias,” repeatedly ignoring or leaving out information that might have undermined the premise of their investigation, noting that the FBI failed to substantiate a single significant allegation mentioned in a report. investigation file on which he relied during the course of the investigation.
“An objective and candid assessment of these strands of information should have caused the FBI to question not only the claim for Crossfire Hurricane, but also to ponder whether the FBI was being manipulated for political or other purposes,” the report stated, using the FBI code name for the investigation into Trump and Russia. “Unfortunately, the agency did not question it.”
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HOW DID THE FBI RESPOND?
The FBI highlighted that it has taken dozens of corrective actions for a long time. If those measures had been in place in 2016, the agency notes, the errors around which the report revolves would have been avoided.
He also emphasized that the behavior mentioned in the document occurred before the current director, Christopher Wray, took office at the end of 2017.
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WHATS NEXT?
Republican lawmakers were quick to react. Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said he had invited Durham to testify on Capitol Hill next week. Trump also tried to seize on the report, saying it showed how the American public had been “misled.”
Although the FBI says it has already taken some steps, Durham noted that more reforms may be required. One possibility, he said, would be to provide additional analysis of politically sensitive investigations by appointing an official who is responsible for challenging actions taken in the course of an investigation.
He noted that his team had considered but ultimately chose not to recommend some measures that would restrict the FBI’s investigative powers, including its use of tools set out in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to wiretap the communications of suspected spies or terrorists.
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Tucker is on Twitter at: twitter.com/etuckerAP
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