The Justice Department on Monday released the report by Trump-era special counsel John Durham, the man tasked with reviewing the origins of the FBI’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Four years after his probe began, Durham concluded the Justice Department and FBI “failed to uphold their important mission of strict fidelity to the law” about the events during the 2016 election. He also found senior FBI personnel “displayed a serious lack of analytical rigor toward the information they received, especially information received from politically affiliated persons and entities.” And he concluded the FBI had relied heavily on investigative leads provided by Trump opponents.
But much of the information disclosed in Durham’s report had already been revealed in a 2019 examination conducted by the Justice Department inspector general into the origins of the FBI’s probe into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. That investigation identified several procedural errors, but overall concluded there was no “political bias” at the bureau.
Though Durham had broader powers than the Justice Department’s watchdog, he pursued prosecutions of just three people, two of whom were acquitted. The third, a former FBI lawyer, pleaded guilty.
The more than 300-page report, released four years after the probe began, can be read here.
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