FBI agents APOLOGIZED for the Trump-Russia probe, John Durham tells Congress

Former Special Counsel John Durham revealed that FBI agents have apologized to him for their handling of the Trump-Russia investigation, as he confirmed he saw bias among key officials responsible for the investigation.

“I’ve had a number of FBI agents that I’ve worked with over the years, some of them retired, some still in place, who have come to me and apologized for the way that investigation has gone. executed,” Durham revealed at the top of the House Judiciary Committee’s high-profile hearing on Wednesday.

To him, that proved that the majority of the FBI are “good, hard-working people” who “swear under oath to abide by the law.”

“Our findings are sobering,” Durham said. “After more than 40 years as a federal prosecutor, they are particularly sobering to me.”

Durham’s testimony comes a month after his damning report showing that the Justice Department and FBI had no basis to launch the Trump-Russia “Crossfire Hurricane” probe, which investigated now-debunked Trump-Russia conspiracy allegations. He concluded after four years that the FBI opened the flawed investigation “on the basis of raw, unanalyzed and unconfirmed information.”

The FBI has since been criticized for its unprecedented raid last summer to obtain classified documents from President Trump’s residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, and for allegations that the agency was slow to conduct an investigation into Hunter Biden and the son of the president a sweetheart deal for pleading guilty to gun and tax crimes this week.

“It will take time to restore public confidence in the institution, the changes, the reforms they have made are certainly changes that will to some extent guard against a repeat of what happened in Crossfire,” Durham continued full.

Judicial Chairman Jim Jordan refuted Durham’s claims that the FBI had made significant reforms. “I don’t think anything has changed,” the Ohio Republican said.

Durham insisted his four-year investigation had been conducted “in good faith” and had not acted “with the intent to pursue partisan political ends.”

“We found troubling violations of law and policy when conducting very sweeping investigations against members of a presidential campaign and ultimately a presidential administration. It doesn’t matter to me if it was a Republican campaign or a Democratic campaign or a presidential campaign.’

Ranking Democrat Jerry Nadler, NY, insisted Durham’s report was political and that he was only invited to testify on Wednesday because Trump was indicted for his handling of classified documents and hush money payments.

‘Mr. Durham, your report reads like a defense of the Trump campaign and an attack on Hillary Clinton, because that’s exactly what it is!” he said, reminding Durham that he had lost all the cases he had taken to court.

Rep. Steve Neguse, D-Colo., asked Durham about Republican calls to “defund” the FBI and DOJ amid concerns about anti-Trump bias within the agency.

‘Well, that doesn’t make sense to me. But I’ve only been doing this for 40 years,” Durham said, referring to his four decades as a federal prosecutor.

At one point during the hearing, Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., Durham that his reputation was damaged because he was appointed US attorney by Donald Trump before being appointed as special counsel by Barr.

“The reputation of anyone who interferes with Donald Trump will be damaged. He damaged goods. It’s not good to deal with him, so you’ll end up at the bottom of a funeral pyre,” Cohen said.

“My concern for my reputation is with the people I respect, and my family, and my lord, and I am perfectly comfortable with my reputation with them, sir,” Durham replied.

At one point during the hearing, Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., Durham that his reputation was damaged because he was appointed US attorney by Donald Trump before being appointed by Barr as special counsel.

President Jordan has said Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) needs to be completely revised to be renewed this year. Section 702 was improperly used by the FBI to spy on the Trump campaign – particularly adviser Carter Page.

“The FBI was too willing to accept and use politically funded and unconfirmed opposition research like the Steele Dossier,” Durham said at the hearing.

“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. It did so 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 fuel a scandal that would tie Trump to Russia .’

FISA’s Section 702 authorization must be completed by the end of 2023. It allows U.S. federal intelligence agencies to conduct targeted searches of foreigners, but sometimes Americans are inappropriately searched during the process — which Congress wants to fix.

At one point, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Durham to the meeting that Donald Trump Jr. with Russian agents who claimed to have “high quality and sensitive information” that would incriminate Hillary Clinton.

“People are getting calls all the time from individuals claiming to have such information,” Durham said.

“This son of a presidential candidate is constantly called by a foreign government that is dirtying his important opponent. Is that what you say?’ Schiff pressed.

Schiff was one of Trump’s most outspoken critics and spent years trying to prove collusion between him and Russia. In 2018, DailyMail.com revealed that Schiff had been spoofed by Russian comedians posing as Ukrainian officials who offered him “compromising” smut about Trump — including nudes.

Schiff was one of Trump’s most outspoken critics and spent years trying to prove collusion between him and Russia. In 2018, DailyMail.com revealed that Schiff had been spoofed by Russian comedians posing as Ukrainian officials who offered him “compromising” smut about Trump — including nudes.

The hearings come as the FBI investigates Biden for alleged mishandling of classified documents, and just days after Trump appeared in court in Miami and was arrested on 37 federal counts related to files found at Mar-a-Lago.

Republican Senators Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley are also urging Durham to provide answers about why top FBI officials — including Comey and McCabe — refused to cooperate with his investigation into the agency’s opening of the investigation into conspiracy between Trump and Russia.

Durham issued 2,800 subpoenas, executed 500 search warrants, and conducted hundreds of interviews with key officials, including Hillary Clinton and her campaign aides, Trump campaign officials, and hundreds of FBI officials involved — but a few of the FBI’s top executives, in particular, refused to participate at the time. working with the Durham probe.

Durham interviewed James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, Bill Preistap, Kevin Clinesmith—who was convicted by Durham of illegally modifying an email—and Fusion GPS’s Glenn Simpson, which Republican senators are calling “strange,” not.

The Republicans are urging Durham to provide information on whether Durham subpoenaed those specific individuals and whether DOJ “impeded” any of his agency’s investigative practices.

While Durham’s report does not recommend “wholesale changes” to Justice Department guidelines or policies, it says there is an “ongoing need” for the agencies to acknowledge the lack of “analytical rigor” and apparent “confirmation bias.”

The FBI responded to the report in a statement to DailyMail.com, saying “corrective actions” have now been taken that would have prevented “missteps in 2016.”

“The conduct in 2016 and 2017 that Special Counsel Durham investigated was the reason the current FBI leadership has already taken dozens of corrective actions, which have been in effect for some time now,” the FBI told DailyMail.com.

If those reforms had taken place in 2016, the missteps identified in the report could have been avoided. This report underscores the importance of ensuring that the FBI continues to do its job with the rigor, objectivity and professionalism that the American people deserve and rightly expect.”