Elise Stefanik, Speaker of the Republican Conference of the House of Representatives, plans to work to “wipe out the rot” within the Justice Department during a closed-door hearing with testimony from Special Counsel John Durham, who recently damning report on systemic failures within the FBI.
Durham concluded in his report that the FBI’s flawed “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation into the now debunked Trump-Russia conspiracy allegations was “based on raw, unanalyzed and unconfirmed information.”
Stefanik, RN.Y., previewed her interrogation line exclusively with DailyMail.com at the National Press Club ahead of a closed-door House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) hearing with Durham Tuesday afternoon. The House Judiciary Committee will also receive special counsel in a public setting on Wednesday.
“I’m on the House Intelligence Committee, so I’ll put questions to John Durham today. I think it’s important that every American takes the opportunity to read the Durham Report. This is a bombshell — the politicization and the weaponization at all at the highest levels of the FBI and Justice Department going after the Democrats’ main political opponent,” Stefanik said.
Durham — who was appointed by then-Attorney General Bill Barr in 2019 to investigate misconduct related to Crossfire Hurricane — concluded that the FBI opened the investigation “based on raw, unanalyzed and unconfirmed information”
“So I’m going to ask John Durham what changes need to be made to eradicate the rot in these desks,” she continued.
“It’s something I’m very familiar with, having served on the House Intelligence Committee and only seen abuses of power by the top officials there with no repercussions,” the top Republican told DailyMail.com.
Stefanik also said the re-authorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) – due for completion by the end of 2023 – is critical.
“There were big, big abuses from FISA, and virtually no repercussions. That needs to be addressed. So I intend to ask John Durham about that too.’
Stefanik also condemned Tuesday morning the plea deal — which included no jail time — entered into by the president’s son, Hunter Biden, on tax and gun charges.
“Today you have the Justice Department of Joe Biden slapping the son of the sitting President of the United States Hunter Biden on the wrist, and meanwhile you let them continue this witch hunt against Donald Trump,” she said.
“These agencies need to be reined in,” Stefanik continued, adding that she “proudly continues to support President Trump” despite his arrest last week on 37 federal counts related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents.
The chairwoman was the first of the GOP congressional leadership to pledge her support for Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
As part of the closed-door hearing, HPSCI Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, told DailyMail.com last week that the committee plans to work with Durham to find legal solutions to address systemic issues within the Justice Department. to solve.
Turner said the aspect of Durham’s report he found “most disturbing” is that it shows “misconduct at the FBI, at the Department of Justice and concerns among the intelligence community itself.”
“I’ve had personal conversations with John Durham that our goal…is not just to go through his report and the issues he identifies, but to get his recommendations on where changes need to be made.”
Turner said it’s important to promote solutions right now as the committee is in the process of revamping Section 702 of the FISA.
He added that another major concern is that the DOJ and FBI used opposition research in political campaigns “to politicize government functions in order to negatively influence an opposition candidate.”
He hopes to work with Durham and the committee to find solutions as soon as possible before the next election.
It’s not just a matter of bad people in positions of power corrupting those positions. It is also that our rules and laws need to be changed so that these mechanisms cannot be used again in this way to really harm the American public.
Jim Jordan, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, R-Ohio, will hold a public hearing with Durham on Wednesday
Republican Senators Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley are also urging Durham to provide answers about why top FBI officials — including former director James Comey and deputy director Andrew McCabe — refused to cooperate with his investigation into the opening of the covert investigation 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 did not interview James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strozk, Bill Preistap, Kevin Clinesmith – who was convicted by Durham of illegally modifying an email – and Fusion GPS’s Glenn Simpson, whom Republican senators call “weird.”
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 there are now “corrective actions” 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 emphasizes 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.”