They lacked enough evidence – US special counsel faults FBI for investigating Trump’s link to Russia in 2016

The FBI lacked “actual evidence” to investigate Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and relied too heavily on tips provided by Trump’s political opponents to fuel the probe, U.S. Special Counsel John Durham concluded in a new report.

The report released Monday, May 15, marks the end of a four-year probe launched in May 2019 when then-Attorney General William Barr appointed Durham, a veteran prosecutor, to probe potential missteps by the FBI when it launched its early stage “Crossfire Hurricane” inquiry into potential contacts between Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia.

That Crossfire Hurricane investigation was later be handed over to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who in March 2019 concluded there was no evidence of a criminal conspiracy between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.

In the new 306-page report, Durham concluded that U.S. intelligence and law enforcement did not possess any “actual evidence” of collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia prior to launching Crossfire Hurricane.
 

¹He also accused the bureau of treating the 2016 Trump probe differently from other political investigations, including several involving Trump’s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

In the report, Durham said Clinton and other Democrats received defensive briefings about being the possible targets of foreign interference, whereas Trump received no such briefing before the FBI opened probes into four members of his campaign.

“The Department and the FBI failed to uphold their important mission of strict fidelity to the law in connection with certain events and activities described in this report,” Durham wrote.

“Senior FBI personnel displayed a serious lack of analytical rigor towards the information that they received, especially information from politically affiliated persons and entities.”

Responding to the report, the FBI said it has already implemented dozens of corrective actions.

Durham’s report was released to Congress on Monday after it was delivered to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday. House Judiciary Committee Republican Chair Jim Jordan said on Twitter he has invited Durham to testify about his report next week.

Trump is planning to run for re-election in 2024 despite facing criminal charges in New York and two federal investigations by Special Counsel Jack Smith that are looking both at Trump’s retention of classified records and his role in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.