Today, Special Counsel John Durham is scheduled to publicly testify before Congress for the first time since he published his bombshell report examining the origins of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation against then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. The special council also testified in yesterday’s closed door House Intelligence Committee hearing.
The Durham report found that the FBI did not have an adequate predicate to launch Crossfire Hurricane; they failed to examine exculpatory evidence and interview key witnesses and abused its Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authorities.
MAKE NO MISTAKE: If the FBI can do this to the President of the United States, they can do this to anyone. House Republicans are committed to rooting out the rot and corruption in the Department of Justice and FBI and holding those individuals responsible.
KEY POINTS ON THE DURHAM REPORT:
Big Picture: The FBI did not have an adequate predicate to launch Crossfire Hurricane.
Fact: As Durham wrote on page eight of the report, “neither U.S. law enforcement nor the Intelligence Community appears to have possessed any actual evidence of collusion in their holdings at the commencement of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.”
Takeaway: The report is a direct indictment of FBI leadership who conspired to undermine a presidential candidate and then delegitimize a duly elected president.
Big Picture: The FBI failed to examine exculpatory evidence and interview key witnesses.
Fact: Durham wrote on page 305 of the report: “The FBI discounted or willfully ignored material information that did not support the narrative of a collusive relationship between Trump and Russia.” He also wrote that Crossfire Hurricane “was opened . . . without [the FBI] ever having spoken to the persons who provided” the key allegations.
Takeaway: The FBI turned a blind eye to equal justice. Instead of an objective and honest assessment of evidence, the FBI manipulated the predication to open Crossfire Hurricane as a full FBI investigation for political purposes.
Big Picture: The FBI abused its Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authorities.
Fact: The applications to surveil Carter Page, an American citizen working for the Trump campaign, relied on multiple levels of sub-source reporting and omitted key exculpatory evidence. An FBI lawyer even manufactured evidence to support an application. The errors, misstatements, and omissions were consistent across the applications and renewals, even after the FBI became aware of these issues. Without these misstatements, the Page FISA applications would not have been approved.
Takeaway: Congress has authority to reform FISA, and Title VII of FISA is scheduled to sunset on December 31, 2023.
