Former President Trump on Monday hailed the findings of Justice Department special counsel John Durham, whose final report after a four-year investigation was deeply critical of the FBI’s investigation into Trump’s 2016 campaign.
“WOW! After extensive research, Special Counsel John Durham concludes the FBI never should have launched the Trump-Russia Probe! In other words, the American Public was scammed, just as it is being scammed right now by those who don’t want to see GREATNESS for AMERICA!” Trump wrote on Truth Social in his first reaction to the 305-page report.
In a subsequent interview with Fox News Digital, Trump called the FBI’s investigation of him a “disgrace” and argued former FBI Director James Comey and others should face consequences.
“I, and much more importantly, the American public, have been victims of this long-running and treasonous charade started by the Democrats — started by Comey,” Trump told the outlet. “There must be a heavy price to pay for putting our country through this.”
Durham’s report, released Monday afternoon, concluded authorities didn’t have sufficient information to open the case, and he issued a scathing assessment of how the FBI handled certain evidence.
“As the more complete record now shows, there are specific areas of Crossfire Hurricane activity in which the FBI badly underperformed and failed, not only in its duties to the public, but also in preventing the severe reputational harm that has befallen the FBI as a consequence of Crossfire Hurricane,” Durham wrote in the report.
“Importantly, had the Crossfire Hurricane actors faithfully followed their own principles regarding objectivity and integrity, there were clear opportunities to have avoided the mistakes and to have prevented the damage resulting from their embrace of seriously flawed information that they failed to analyze and assess properly,” he continued.
Durham was appointed in 2019 by then-Attorney General Bill Barr to investigate the origins of the FBI probe, a move that Trump welcomed at the time. Trump himself repeatedly raised expectations for the Durham probe, suggesting it would unveil the “crime of the century.”
Durham’s investigation yielded multiple indictments but limited results in court. Two individuals – Igor Danchenko and Michael Sussmann – were charged with lying to the FBI and found not guilty, and a third individual pleaded guilty to doctoring an email about a surveillance warrant.
Monday’s report did not call for any additional charges.
Still, Durham’s findings are likely to exacerbate partisan tensions about alleged bias within the FBI and Justice Department.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a top Trump ally in the House and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, tweeted that he had reached out to the Justice Department to have Durham testify next week.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who ran against Trump in 2016, said the report “details serious and unforgivable breaches by federal law enforcement.”