After years of championing the Trump-Russia collusion narrative, CNN's Jake Tapper said the release of the Durham Report is "devastating to the FBI, and to a degree, it does exonerate Donald Trump."
Conservative outlets and pundits widely agreed that Special Counsel John Durham's final report on the origins of Russiagate was a "scathing" indictment of a politicized bureau.
But Durham did not prosecute any Obama-era FBI officials involved in the fully manufactured and politicized Trump-Russia collusion investigation. This was despite criminal referrals having been previously made against the top FBI officials who launched the bogus Crossfire Hurricane investigation, Director James Comey and his deputy Andrew McCabe.
Republicans have vowed to bring in Durham to testify before Congress. More talk. Where's the action?
A large chunk of the American populace wants accountability. Will it ever happen?
“When government officials fail to abide by the boundaries set by the U.S. law and the Constitution, there must be accountability. Those who perpetrated this hoax to the American people must go to jail,” Florida Republican Rep. Daniel Webster said in response to the Durham report.
Trump White House adviser Kash Patel noted: “As a former federal prosecutor myself, when you write a scathing report like this you bring prosecution.”
“The report shows a yawning gap between what went on and the prosecutorial response,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch. “I think Durham dropped the ball when it came to prosecutions, and this was a glorified administrative review.”
Former President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post: "I only wish that Bill Barr, as the Attorney General of the United States, was able to act. Sadly, he was afraid of the Radical Left Democrat Lunatics, and their constant threats against him of Impeachment, and was absolutely impotent on the subject of the Durham Report, he should have taken strong action. Even more importantly, he did nothing on the massive Voter Fraud which took place during the 2020 Presidential Election. Remember, you get NOTHING from RINOS. An honor to have fired him!"
Durham wrote in the report he released on Monday: “Not every injustice or transgression amounts to a criminal offense,” and “horribly bad judgment” is not always a crime.
Again, both Comey and McCabe were referred to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution. Charges were never filed.
DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz concluded that Comey violated FBI and DOJ policies when he leaked memos detailing his interactions with Trump.
Comey leaked the memos, which were classified as confidential, to his attorneys and a friend who later shared them with The New York Times.
Horowitz referred McCabe to the DOJ for criminal charges stemming from inaccurate statements to FBI investigators looking into leaks to the media around the time of the 2016 election.
Attorneys for McCabe were told in September 2019 that he should expect an indictment after an inspector general’s report concluded that he misled officials about authorizing disclosures related to the FBI’s investigation into the Clinton Foundation.
"The Justice Department abandoned its prosecution in early 2020, leading to speculation that a Washington-based grand jury rejected the charges," The Washington Times' Jeff Mordock noted.
None of the three indictments Durham brought involved high-profile FBI figures. Meanwhile, Special Counsel Robert Mueller filed charges against roughly a half-dozen Trump associates to secure their cooperation in his investigation.
Former Trump administration official Michael Caputo said Durham's handling of his investigation will encourage more politically motivated criminal investigations by not bringing prosecutions.
“By failing to recommend charges against the conspirators, Durham [on Monday] confirmed my two biggest takeaways from the Russia hoax. First, our nation’s justice system is broken beyond repair, shattered into a million pieces. Second, this now-sanctioned sedition will happen again soon, probably in the months ahead,” Caputo said.
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