Key takeaways from the FBIs Trump-Russia probe investigation | Donald Trump news

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John Durham has been charged with leading the investigation into the origins of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) investigation into possible collusion between former President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia in 2016.

The release of that report Monday marked the end of Durham’s four-year investigation.

It was an affair charged with politics from the beginning, with Trump and his allies insisting that the FBI investigation, led by former FBI Director Robert Mueller, was biased against the former president. The Mueller investigation led to charges against 34 people and three businesses, but found that while the Trump campaign accepted Russia’s efforts to influence the election, there was no evidence to prove collusion or criminal conspiracy.

In turn, critics accused former Trump Attorney General Bill Barr of having his own partisan motives in launching the Durhams probe in 2019, with some noting that an independent FBI watchdog had already reviewed the deficiencies in the department’s investigation and implemented a range of reforms.

Here are the key takeaways from the Durhams’ report.

What did the report say?

More importantly, the Durhams report said the FBI was at the very least too hasty in opening its investigation into Trump, saying the department at the time had no actual evidence including any proof of contact between the staff. of the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence agents and instead relied on the raw. , untested and unconfirmed intelligence. Acting with such speed, says the Durhams report, is a departure from the norm.

He added that investigators have repeatedly fallen victim to confirmation bias, ignoring or rationalizing evidence that could have weakened their case. He pointed to at least one FBI agent who expressed ill feelings toward Trump. The report suggested that the FBI handled the 2016 Trump probe differently than other politically sensitive investigations, including some involving Trumps Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

Special Counsel John Durhams investigation lasted four years [File: Julia Nikhinson/Reuters]

The report also noted the FBI’s failure to prove a single substantive allegation from a dossier that purported to reveal raw research related to the Trump campaign’s alleged collusion with Russia, among other wrongdoing. The collection is known as the Steele dossier after the author, former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, whose research was funded by Democrats.

An objective and honest assessment of these strands of information should have caused the FBI to doubt not only the predication for the Crossfire Hurricane, but also to consider whether the FBI is being manipulated for political or other other purposes, the report said, referring to the official name of the FBI investigation. Unfortunately, no.

Also important not included in the report: any new charges related to the FBI investigation.

What’s new?

A 2019 US Department of Justice inspector general report identified numerous problems with the FBI’s investigation, saying it was both dysfunctional and rushed, but denied there was evidence of political bias or that the department had no reason to open the investigation when it is done.

Beyond that, many of the deficiencies identified by Durham are the same as those flagged in the 2019 report.

The watchdog’s earlier report also took issue with investigators’ reliance on the Steele dossier, but noted it was received after the initial investigation was opened.

The earlier report also focused heavily on errors and omitted information found in the FBI’s applications for warrants to eavesdrop on a former Trump campaign aide, Carter Page. The omitted information likely weakens or undermines the premise of the application.

Both Durham and the watchdog found no evidence of widespread spying on Trump’s election campaign, aside from tracking Page, one of the main allegations from Trump and his allies.

While the watchdog’s report called for a range of reforms, with at least 40 ordered by FBI brass in its wake, the Durhams’ report said further action may be needed.

One idea, he said, is to designate an official responsible for challenging the steps taken in an investigation, to provide additional scrutiny to politically sensitive investigations.

How did the FBI respond to the Durhams’ report?

The FBI said it had implemented a series of reforms to address the department’s investigative issues in 2016, including measures meant to ensure the accuracy of covert surveillance applications.

The department also emphasized that the report focused on the FBI’s previous leadership, before current Director Christopher Wray took the job in 2017.

If those reforms had been implemented in 2016, the missteps identified in the report would have been avoided. This report reinforces the importance of ensuring that the FBI continues to do its work with the rigor, impartiality, and professionalism that the American people deserve and rightly expect, the FBI said in a statement.

Has anyone been charged in connection with the Durhams investigation?

Durhams report ended speculation that more people could be charged in connection with the FBIs Trump-Russia investigation.

Durham previously obtained a guilty plea against former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, who was singled out for altering an email used to justify a government wiretap application for Trump aide Page.

His other two cases were less successful. Last year, a jury in Washington, DC, acquitted former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann on charges that he lied to the FBI when he met with the bureau in September 2016 to share a tip about possible communications between Trump’s business and a Russian bank.

A few months later, a jury in Virginia acquitted Russian researcher Igor Danchenko on charges that he lied to the FBI.

What are the political implications?

The timing of the release of the reports is likely to fuel Trump’s narrative that he has been repeatedly targeted by officials in a political witch hunt.

Trump has already declared that he will run for president in 2024, and while the latest report offered some new revelations, the former president continued on his Truth Social platform that it presented the crime of the century. He even referred to the FBI probe as a Democratic hoax.

However, the report is likely to further reinforce long-held political narratives.

Tweeting after the report, Republican Congressman Byron Donalds said it showed Republicans needed to rally behind Trump.

Meanwhile, Democratic Congressman Daniel Goldman, who previously served as lead counsel in Trump’s first congressional impeachment, called the Durhams reported a political hatchet job.

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