Special Counsel John Durham (R-Conn.) ended his two-year-old probe into improper behavior regarding the Trump Russian probe at the FBI, getting only one conviction of FBI Attorney Kevin Clinesmith who admitted Aug 19, 2020 that he altered an application to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [FISA} Court that failed to say former Trump campaign aid Carter Page once worked for the CIA. Clinesmith admitted he omitted Page’s background to get the court to issue a warrant to wiretap the former Trump campaign foreign policy aid. Dismissed by the media as inconsequential to Trump’s complaints about the Department of Justice and FBI, it was anything but trivial. Clinesmith knew that omitting Page’s CIA background got the FISA to issue the warrant to wiretap Page. Durham lost this perjury case against former FBI Atty. Michael Sussmann.May 31, 2022.
Durham accused Sussmann of lying to the FBI about not working or the Clinton campaign. Sussmann filed a report to the FBI in 2016 that Trump colluded with the Kremlin to help win the 2016 presidential election. Sussmann was asked by FBI brass at the time whether he had any ties to Hillary campaign. Sussmann denied any work for the Hillary campaign when he told the FBI about Trump’s alleged ties to the Kremlin. Sussmann at the time had the bogus Steele dossier, a compendium of fabrications by former British MI6 agent Christopher Steele, claiming Trump’s ties to the Kremlin. Hillary used the Steele dossier in 2016 to inform the public about Trump dangerous ties to the Kremlin, hoping it would sabotage his campaign. Durham’s prosecution of Sussmann ended May 31, 2021 when a jury said there was too much contradictory information in the case.
When former Atty. Gen. Bill Barr appointed Durham Special Counsel Oct 19, 2020 only two months before he resigned Dec. 23, 2020 from the Trump administration. Former President Donald Trump hoped that Durham would have confirmed the biggest hoax in U.S. history, related to former FBI Director James Comey’s counterintelligence investigation of Trump and his 2016 campaign. Durham never got to Comey or former CIA Director John Brennan who gave Hillary’s bought-and-paid-for Steele dossier to Comey. In appointing Barr to investigate FBI’s illegal investigation into Trump and his 2016 campaign, Durham wanted to show that he was illegally targeted by former Obama administration officials to help Hillary get elected president. Every major U.S. news outlet hoped Durham would end his probe into the DOJ and FBI that pursued Trnmp’s alleged ties to the Kremlin.
Former FBI Director and Special Counsel Robert Muller, 78, acquitted Trump March 23, 2019 after a 22-month,m $40 million probe into Trump and his campaign’s collusion in 2016 with Russia. Countless New York Times and Washington Post articles all pointed to Trump’s culpability in a Russian conspiracy to win the 2016 presidential election. When Mueller released his report March 23, 2019, Democrats lost any hope of their wild claims about Trump. Not one newspaper or broadcast outlet admitted that they pursued a false narrative about Trump for years. Durham ended his probe into the FBI and Justice Department today with a 300-page report largely critical of the FBI and Justice Department. Durham didn’t make it up the food chain, instead settled from underlings like Clinesmith an Sussmann for whatever malfeasance took place investigation Trump and his 2016 campaign.
Durham’s report was highly critical of the FBI process by which it investigated Trump and his 2016 campaign. “Again, the FBI’s failure to critically analyze information that ran counter to the narrative of the Trump/Russia collusive relationship exhibited throughout Crossfire Hurricane is extremely troublesome,” said Durham’s report. “Crossifire Hurricane was the FBI Code name for the investigation,” Durham said. FBI Director Christopher Wray who replaced Comey Aug. 2, 2017, wrote Durham that many of his requested reforms had been made. “Had those reforms been in place in 2016, the missteps identified in the report could have been prevented,” Durham said. “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,” said the Durham report.
Democrats and the press have already discredited the Durham Report, saying that Durham failed to prosecute anyone connected with nefarious activity at the DOJ and FBI. When you consider that Kevin Clinesmith’s conviction for altering a FISA Court application to wiretap Carter Pange, it’s a very big deal. Whether Sussmann got off from perjury or not, it still showed that Durham was on the right track getting to the bottom of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. Former Atty. Gen. Bill Barr once accused Comey April 16, 2019 of spying on Trump and his campaign. Comey acted dumbfounded saying he didn’t know what Barr was talking bout. Durham pointed out that the FBI under Comey lacked “rigor, objectivity and professionalism” in determining whether or not to investigate Trump’s 3016 campaign. Durham was on the right track, just couldn’t scratch the surface of the FBI conspiracy.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
