John Durham lays out how FBI IGNORED intel that Hillary approved plot to tie Trump to Russia in 2016

Former Special Counsel John Durham testified Wednesday that the FBI failed to conduct the same investigation into allegations over the Trump and Clinton campaigns in 2016.

Appearing before the House Judiciary Committee, he described how it ignored information the CIA had received that Hillary Clinton was signing a contract to bind Donald Trump to Russia.

So while it opened an investigation into allegations that Trump colluded in some way with Moscow, it did not investigate Clinton’s claims.

Durham testified for the first time since the release of his report on the origins of the Russia investigation last month.

“As our report indicates. the FBI was too willing to accept and use politically funded and unconfirmed opposition investigations like the Steele dossier,” he said.

“The FBI relied on the file and the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) applications, knowing that there was likely material that came from a political campaign, a political opponent.

It did so even after the President of the United States, FBI and CIA directors, and others received intelligence briefings suggesting a Clinton campaign was underway to fuel a scandal Trump was facing. Russia would bind.’

Durham’s four-year investigation turned up only three prosecutions, two of which ended in acquittals.

But his report accused FBI agents of withholding important information from judges and accused the agency of ignoring reasons not to investigate Trump and his campaign.

It details how Russian analysis obtained by the CIA suggested that Clinton had personally approved a plan to “defame” her opponent by claiming foreign interference in the election. It wasn’t going anywhere, he said.

In contrast, the Clinton campaign was treated more leniently, he concluded.

He claimed current and former FBI agents apologized to him for the agency’s handling of the Russia investigation.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump faced each other on the debate stage in 2016. But Durham said their campaigns were treated very differently by the FBI

Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Rep. Jim Jordan, opened the hearing by drawing a direct line from the Russia investigation to the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation

“It is so sensitive that it can affect the outcome of presidential elections and the future of the nation,” he said.

“You would expect the discipline that followed to be higher than ever. And that didn’t happen here.

“There’s a kind of analytical rigor, the discipline in how we investigate criminal cases, that was just largely missing here.

Republicans are still outraged by the Trump investigation, despite the fact that his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was forced to leave after he lied about contacts with Russian officials.

Their argument about double standards was sparked this week when it emerged that Hunter Biden is likely to avoid jail time with a plea deal that ends a years-long federal tax and gun investigation.

The CIA deemed the Hillary Clinton information important enough to notify President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and other top officials

According to Durham’s report, it was a “rather surprising and inexplicable failure” to include what he called the “Clinton Plan intelligence” in the FBI’s investigation.

Rep. Jim Jordan, who chairs the committee, opened the hearing by drawing a direct line from the Russia investigation to the Mar-a-Lago document investigation.

“Nothing has changed and they will never stop,” Jordan said. “Seven years of attacking Trump is scary enough.

“But what’s even more frightening, any of us could be next.”

Republicans plan to impose new restrictions on the FBI in exchange for renewing surveillance powers, known as Section 702, which US intelligence considers critical and which expires at the end of this year.

Rep. Wesley Hunt, another Republican, said Americans believe there is a “two-tier justice system.”

“Here we are seven years later, still talking about President Trump and this Democrat-created scandal,” he said.