Former US president Donald Trump once predicted the special prosecutor appointed to look into the background of the official investigation into his alleged links to Russia would uncover “the crime of the century”.
Trump and his allies believed that the John Durham inquiry would prove there was a “deep state” conspiracy to undermine his campaign for the White House in 2016.
[ FBI accused of failures but key report finds no deep-state plot against TrumpOpens in new window ]
The Durham investigation report never materialised in time to be the wonder weapon that Trump hoped it would be for the 2020 election.
When it was published on Monday, it proved to be highly critical of the FBI and its decision to open a counterintelligence investigation into Trump, known as Crossfire Hurricane.
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The findings were seized on by Trump and his allies but critics dismissed the whole Durham process as “a dud”.
The Durham report concluded the US department of justice and the FBI failed to uphold their important mission of strict fidelity to the law. It maintained that when the investigation was first launched, neither US intelligence nor law enforcement agencies “had any actual evidence” of collusion.
The report maintained that top officials at the bureau had relied on raw and uncorroborated information to continue the inquiry.
It also contended that there were repeated instances of “confirmation bias” in which those involved ignored information that went against the initial premise of the investigation.
“Our investigation also revealed that senior FBI personnel displayed a serious lack of analytical rigour towards the information that they received, especially information received from politically affiliated persons and entities.”
The report said this information in part triggered and sustained Crossfire Hurricane and contributed to the subsequent need for the investigation into allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election carried out by special counsel Robert Mueller.
“In particular, there was significant reliance on investigative leads provided or funded (directly or indirectly) by Trump’s political opponents. The department did not adequately examine or question these materials and the motivations of those providing them, even when at about the same time the director of the FBI and others learned of significant and potentially contrary intelligence.”
However, critics maintained that after four years of investigations by Durham no one went to jail in relation to any of his findings.
Two people that he charged with crimes were found not guilty, while a former FBI lawyer who pleaded guilty to altering an email used to help a colleague prepare a court application for surveillance of a Trump adviser was ordered to serve 400 hours of community service
Critics also contended that much of the criticism set out by Durham’s 300-page report had already been largely covered in an earlier report in 2019 by the department of justice inspector general that ultimately concluded that the FBI investigation into Trump was justified.
‘Treasonous charade’
They also pointed out that Durham in his conclusion did not recommend “any wholesale changes in the guidelines and policies that the department and the FBI now have in place to ensure proper conduct and accountability in how counterintelligence activities are carried out”.
Overall, the publication of Durham’s report, rather than bringing to an end the rows over the 2016 campaign is likely to lead to further arguments between political opponents.
The former president on Monday told Fox News that Democrats and former senior FBI figures must pay “a heavy price”.
“I, and much more importantly, the American public have been victims of this long-running and treasonous charade started by the Democrats,” he said.
Trump’s allies in Congress have proposed congressional hearings into the report and having Durham testify as early as next week.
Republicans and conservative media trumpeted the findings of the Durham report.
Ironically, at the same time some Trump critics were focusing on potential bombshell claims in a new legal case being brought against a key ally of the former president, Rudy Giuliani, by a former associate.
The lawsuit included an explosive allegation that Giuliani asked his former associate “if she knew anyone in need of a (presidential) pardon” because “he was selling pardons for $2 million, which he and President Trump would split”.
Guiliani, through a representative, has denied the allegations.