Global Courant
Special Counsel John Durham testified Wednesday that the CIA received information in 2016 suggesting that Hillary Clinton had approved a plan to tie then-candidate Donald Trump to Russia — information the FBI ignored.
Durham testified publicly for the first time before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, just weeks after the release of a report finding that the Justice Department and FBI should never have launched the Trump-Russia investigation.
When asked about his findings, Durham said the FBI had failed to “sufficiently investigate the information received” and “did not apply the same standards to allegations it received about the Clinton and Trump campaigns.”
“The FBI was too willing to accept and use politically funded and unconfirmed opposition research such as the Steele dossier,” Durham said. “The FBI relied on the file and the FISA applications knowing that there was likely material that came from a political campaign or political opponent.”
FBI IGNORED ‘CLEAR WARNING SIGN’ OF CLINTON-LED ATTEMPT TO ‘MANIPULATE’ AGENCY FOR ‘POLITICAL PURPOSES’
John Durham testifying before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, June 20, 2023. (Screenshot/Parliamentary Committee on the Judiciary)
He added that the FBI “did this even after the President of the United States, FBI and CIA directors and others received intelligence briefings suggesting a Clinton campaign plan was underway to cover up a scandal.” cause Trump to bind to Russia.”
R-Ohio House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan used the hearing to focus his questions on the “Clinton Plan Intelligence,” which was never shared with the FBI Crossfire Hurricane team investigating possible collusion between Trump and Russia.
“Can you tell the committee what happened when you took that referral memo and shared it with one of those agents, specifically Special Supervisor Number 1?” Jordan asked.
“We interviewed the first supervisor of the Crossfire investigation, the operations person,” Durham said. “We showed him the intelligence information and he indicated that he had never seen it before.”
DESPITE EXCLOSURE, DURHAM TRIAL OF SUSSMANN ADDED TO EVIDENCE CLINTON CAMPAIGN TO LINK TRUMP TO RUSSIA
Durham said in public testimony that the FBI was not paying enough attention to reports that the Clinton campaign wanted to tie Trump to Russia. (REUTERS/Rick Wilking/File Photo)
Durham said the officer, Joe Pientka, “immediately got emotional, got up and left the room with his attorney, spent some time in the hallway, and came back.”
“He was angry, wasn’t he? He was angry because as an agent he should have had this on the case — important information that the FBI director withheld from the people who were investigating,” Jordan said.
“The information was withheld from him,” Durham replied.
In July 2016, then-CIA director John Brennan realized “the significance” of that information, Durham said, so much so that he “quickly” notified then-President Barack Obama, then-Vice President Joe Biden and other national security officials . .
The CIA duly forwarded that information via a Counterintelligence Operational Lead (CIOL) to then-FBI Director James Comey and then-Deputy Deputy Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok, with the subject: “Crossfire Hurricane.” But nothing came of that briefing or Brennan’s subsequent referral of the information to the FBI.
DURHAM FINDS DOJ, FBI MISSION OF ‘STRICT FAITH TO THE LAW’ MISSION OF ‘STRICT FAITH TO THE LAW’ IN TRUMP-RUSSIA PROBE
James Comey was fired from his position as FBI director on May 9, 2017, after handling the Clinton email investigation. (Reuters)
Durham’s report said the FBI “failed to act on what — when combined with other irrefutable facts — should have been a clear warning sign that the FBI could then be the target of an attempt to manipulate or influence the law enforcement process for political purposes during the 2016 Presidential Election.”
“Whether or not the Clinton Plan information was based on reliable or unreliable information, or was ultimately true or false, it should have prompted FBI personnel to conduct an analysis of the information immediately and with much greater care. and to exercise caution when receiving, analyzing and relying on material of partisan origin, such as the Steele reports and the Alfa Bank allegations,” the Durham report said.
Durham’s public testimony was part of a lengthy House hearing in which he defended his years of research, saying that “at no time or in any way did we act with an intent to further partisan or political ends.”
“Insofar as anyone else suggests, that’s just untrue and offensive,” Durham said, adding that his findings are “serious” and “deserve the attention of the American public and its representatives.”
FLASHBACK: DNI DECLASSIFIES BRENNAN NOTES, CIA MEMO ON HILLARY CLINTON ‘STIRRING-UP’ SCANDAL BETWEEN TRUMP, RUSSIA
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, used the hearing to push for an explanation of how the FBI ignored warnings about the Clinton campaign. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“We found troubling violations of law and policy when conducting very sweeping investigations targeting members of a presidential campaign and ultimately a presidential administration,” Durham said. “It doesn’t matter to me whether it was a Republican campaign or a Democratic campaign.”
“The law should apply equally to everyone,” he added.
Democrats used the hearing to take down Durham, with some even calling him a “political hacker” and warning that his reputation has been “damaged” by “involvement with Donald Trump.”
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“My concern for my reputation is with the people I respect and my family and my Lord,” Durham replied. “And I’m completely comfortable with my reputation with them.”
Brooke Singman is a digital political reporter for Fox News. You can reach her at [email protected] or @BrookeSingman on Twitter.
