I have columns out today on the release of the long-awaited report from John Durham on the Russian collusion investigation, including on the new Messenger site. However, I wanted to post the report itself below. As expected, it is a scathing indictment of the Clinton campaign, the FBI, and the media for one of the most successful political hit jobs in history.
The report shreds the FBI and Justice Department for abandoning standards and ignoring the lack of evidence to launch and prolong the investigation. The report notes that the treatment of the unsubstantiated allegations in the Steele Dossier, funded by the Clinton Campaign, was “markedly different” from the government’s level of interest in Clinton’s campaign when it faced such allegations.
Durham’s report confirmed that the FBI ignored intelligence it received from “a trusted foreign source pointing to a Clinton campaign plan to vilify Trump by tying him to Vladimir Putin so as to divert attention from her own concerns relating to her use of a private email server.”
Durham noted that “The speed and manner in which the FBI opened and investigated Crossfire Hurricane during the presidential election season based on raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence also reflected a noticeable departure from how it approached prior matters involving possible attempted foreign election interference plans aimed at the Clinton campaign.”
The FBI issued a statement on Monday:
“The conduct in 2016 and 2017 that Special Counsel Durham examined was the reason that current FBI leadership already implemented dozens of corrective actions, which have now been in place for some time. Had those reforms been in place in 2016, the missteps identified in the report could have been prevented. This report reinforces the importance of ensuring the FBI continues to do its work with the rigor, objectivity, and professionalism the American people deserve and rightly expect.”
Oh, and thank you Professor Turley and team for doing everything you do everyday. 👍🏼
I honestly don’t know what to say anymore, and I don’t know what we do about it but continue to doggedly pursue and expose it all. Our modern American Dems are the most corrupt-bordering-on-evil party the entire West has seen in many decades. We can all do our part even if we are simply posting on a site like this that is indexed by web crawlers and therefore searchable (for now). If this were not an effective strategy, we would not see the comment bombing by our resident trolls/paid shills on the regular attempting, rather ineffectually I might add, to do the same. Keep speaking up, wherever you can, our survival really does depend on it at this point, and the Feds ain’t gonna save us. The ratio here is always tipped toward sense, law, and freedom, no matter how many times Anonymous or Svelez post a day. Keep responding to and refuting them with facts as well – the days of ‘don’t feed the trolls’ are over.
These brainwashed, MSNBC-programmed, propagandized Dems cannot hear, see, or understand facts or truth when presented with them. That’s how MK Ultra’d they all are.
James,
To me it is just not here on the good professor’s blog, but we need to point this out to everyday people we know.
We need to make sure they understand the ramifications of the Durham report. What happened, who was involved and when.
Then we need to make sure they consider this in the coming presidential election.
Dear Prof Turley,
“Missteps” is just another word for nothing left to lose. Five former CIA directors, both parties, admit the letter was merely “political”. Political missteps. Just business, nothing personal.
Political missteps can create its own reality. And while you’re studying those political missteps, judiciously as you will, they’ll create other new political missteps which you can study too. .. especially x2 for ‘free-speech absolutists’.
As luck would have it, I still know where the buck stops:
President: “who’s in charge around here?”
IC: “We are.”
*”The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers & be capable of reading them.” ~ T. Jefferson, Vol 5
I believe in every honest Conservative filing and joining class action law suits everywhere they can and start one if there is not one.
Families, Gen. Flynn, Page, Trump family, MAGA everyone, innocent Jan 6 folks set up by FBI, Biden and Garland calling us dangerous, jobs lost, reputations destroyed….. get on the wagon…. Time to fight back… sue, sue, sue!
Yes! Action, action, action…
Flynn is a different kettle of fish…
But he does deserve his day in court.
Carter Page… he definitely has a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the individuals directly as well as the government.
They deprived him of his civil rights under the color of the law.
Most likely a judge will toss it, but could be reversed on appeal. He could make millions here. He’s a high net worth who’s good name had been intentionally dragged thru the mud.
I’ll wager he and his lawyers were waiting for this to come out.
-G
Jonathan Turley wrote, “Most viewers and readers will be given few details of this report by a media that spent three years pushing this false narrative. It is part of a long pattern that raises troubling questions of a de facto state media in this country.”
“The political left has shown its pattern of propaganda lies within their narratives so many times since 2016 that it’s beyond me why anyone would blindly accept any narrative that the political left and their lapdog media actively push?” Steve Witherspoon 2022
I no longer trust anything coming out of a Democratic Party politician’s mouth or anything their lap dog Pravda-USA media outlets present; these people are pure propagandists and liars.
The political left has made its bed.
Kinda sad, a legally elected President attacked and undermined by those we expect to follow the law and those we expect to report the truth.
Here we are today and the attacks on man have not ceased. Is America MIA?
Yes.
Margaret Ballhere: NO. Trump was NOT legally-elected because he CHEATED. He knew he couldn’t win legally because he is repulsive to most Americans–nothing but a lout, braggadocious bully who bankrupted 6 businesses. He also lost the popular vote in 2016. He tried, but failed, to cheat his way into power a second time. He fomented an insurrection by consistently lying about nonexistent voter fraud, and those who fell for his lies are being prosecuted. He is being held to account for his conduct, incluidng sexually assaulting Jean Carroll and then defaming her.Trump is no victim.
“DOJ axes entire IRS team investigating Hunter Biden”, the latest act of a corrupt agency done on the same day as the Durham Report drops. This should be a bombshell and it is really getting scary. It was bad enough that the corrupt Garland didn’t appoint a SP, but now this!!!!
Am I the only one old enough to remember the so-called Saturday Night Massacre? How is this different? The TImes and WAPO should be ashamed of themselves for not caring about this abuse of power AND obstruction of justice.
HullBobby,
Read that.
Things that make you go hummm.
Amazing the corruption and how the Democrats has turned the US into a banana republic.
2024, no matter who the GOP candidate is, vote for him or her.
Bradley P. Moss:
“This is it? This is the grand summary? It’s Horowitz with some extra commentary. They’ve got nothing. No grand conspiracy. No effort to take down Trump. It’s “you messed up surveilling Page” and “be more careful next time with political-affiliated sources”. What a flop.”
If Moss belittles it, you know it’s Gold.
He’s correct on the facts here, whether you like him or not.
Apparently you can not read.
There is a massive conspiracy.
Nor did Durham say “be more careful”
He said the CIA/FBI/DOJ violated the constitution, the law, and their own policies and procedures.
Durham made no recommendations – because you can not stop people from committing murder by passing another law making murder illegal.
The most significant aspect of this report is that these details are now entered into the public record. The devil is always in the details. News agencies can chose to report, not to report or put their special flavor of propaganda on the report but they cannot expunge the report from the record. Whether this will be acted on now or in the near future remains to be seen, but scholars have this information to examine now and later, when emotions have cooled and it can be analyzed objectively.
What is certain is that the Department of Justice and the FBI have had and continue to have their reputations tarnished. It will take more than a superficial apology to repair the damage. Follow the law objectively!
Are there any details that weren’t already in the public record via the DOJ IG report and the Senate Intelligence Committee report?
Probably, but the report shows that Trump is Totally Vindicated ,and that those on the blog like ATS and Svelaz are incompetent hacks who should be laughed at whenever they comment.
So it is confirmed: The Biggest Lie is the collusion between the FBI and the Clinton campaign. To a degree looks like the Obama admin.
This is the story of a century.
And it is being glossed over by MSM. Had to go into town today. Listened to NPR. For the hour I listened, did not hear one mention of the Durham report. Even the top and bottom of the hour news, nothing.
Whatever you do, make sure to mention and discuss this with friends and family.
@UpstateFarmer; ….and the American taxpayer supports the CPB which funds NPR, a media outlet which sees fit not to cover/report on a matter of profound interest to the citizenry.
ZZDoc,
A very good point.
However, during their bi-annual fundraisers they . . . note, that only 3% comes from the taxpayers. The rest is from donations mostly corporate donations.
As it has been seen, NPR had to cut some 10% of their staff due to declining donations, namely corporate donations. It reflects in their reporting. This morning they had an entire segment longer than 5 minutes, about how immigrants could not get credit cards. Ohhh. Hard hitting news of, to quote you, “profound interest to the citizenry.”
“[D]uring their bi-annual fundraisers they . . . note, that only 3% comes from the taxpayers.”
That is NPR playing a shell game, i.e., lying.
*Local* public radio stations receive massive government (public) funding. They then funnel that *public* money to NPR via fees paid for broadcasting content.
Trump was impeached for asking if the Bidens are corrupt…which everyone both sides know are!
It seems Republicans are really just democrat lite at this point!
Could be just one line
“No one goes to jail”
The End
why do Democrat not go to jail for their obvious crimes?
All kinds of republicans go to jail for waking up in the morning?
With all the criminality laid out in the Report from the Clinton campaign paying foreigners for Russian disinformation to interfere in the election, to the highest echelons of the DOJ lying to a federal court to renew a spy warrant essentially against the President of the United States, with all that, our DOJ chose to prosecute and convict Douglas Mackey, a guy who turned an old election joke into an internet meme. I think that case is one of the most interesting regarding its implications for the First Amendment, but still no mention by Professor Turley.
report should be titled…”Rule of Law Dead in America”
IF you are a Democrat.
“The King can do no wrong!”. This archaic, 13th century belief gave birth to sovereign immunity (and its progeny) which continues to shield from civil liability the anti-American governmental abuses recounted in the Durham report. Progressives have pushed in some of “their” cities to strip immunity from police officers so they can be sued by the “victims” of their alleged excesses. Perhaps these progressives will extend their crusade to include the immunity enjoyed by the FBI who did all it could to prevent Trump’s election and then ruin his years in office. Then there is the media. Protected by New York Times v. Sullivan, the media repeatedly has used its protected status to destroy anyone who fails to reflect the narrative they have decided is best for us. “Actual malice” intentionally was adopted by the Supreme Court, knowing it is a steep hill to climb, in order to protect First Amendment rights when public figures are involved. But for today’s corporate media to talk about the First Amendment truly is a joke. Stories are not printed or broadcast for the public’s need to know but for the bottom line. This was true in days of old but today, with instant, mass communication, the consequences can be deadly. I think it is time for us to revisit the special protection we give our government officials and the media so the citizens can hold them accountable. Making a few of them empty their pockets may help prevent conduct that is calculated to destroy any and all opponents.
I was thinking about NYT v. Sullivan earlier today. I haven’t read the Durham Report yet. However, in reading the synopses provided by both Professor Turley and Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz, it sounds like the report is replete with examples of actual malice. Do you think that Donald Trump could sue the government under the Federal Tort Claims Act for defamation? If the statute of limitations is problematic, are there any circumstances that might permit the tolling of the statute? Any ideas about how the statute of limitations was rolled in the case of the woman who recently got a verdict against Donald Trump alleging battery and defamation?
For some who were paying attention the outrageous misconduct by the FBI/DOJ was evident all along. The Durham Report is just another confirmation of sanity to those who couldn’t help but notice the emperor had no clothes. But where are we now? The culprits suffered no consequences and in many cases were enriched or awarded Pulitzers for their part in this disgraceful psyop against the American people. Sure, they were belatedly caught red handed, but without consequences they are only emboldened. Now, this type of conduct has become passé. Lying about lab leaks or laptops have become the necessary cost of entry into the world of power, wealth and prestige. Hunter will only face a token misdemeanor and Trump will be indicted for a felony in the midst of the primary season. And here we are. The “Deep State” needs to be defunded, but like the AI in 2001 it has become self aware and dangerous. No candidate who promotes the necessary reforms will ever escape indictment, let alone get elected. The FBI agents in the blue windbreakers with yellow letters have been a heroic staple in Hollywood for most of my life. Now, I only see villains.
The apparatchiks seem a little subdued.
Well the other shoe has finally dropped….on some very thick lush deep pile carpet….with barely a sound being heard if you listen to the American Media.
But then, as we have seen the FBI is telling the American Media what to report and what to censor or ignore.
Are any of us that have the least inkling of what the FBI is supposed to be doing and is not, and on the other hand is doing….that makes it a very real danger to this fragile experiment in freedom we called America?
Even today, we see the FBI, IRS, DOJ, and White House up to their eyeballs in yet more nose thumbing at the Rule of Law and the Constitution.
The Beat goes. on….and shall until there is a revolution of sorts that brings about a sea change in the way government functions and that chance was missed in the investigations done by Horowitz, Mueller, Durham, and now under Garland and Wray and the Intelligence Chiefs.
Unless and until culpable individuals are harshly punished noting shall change….and the beat shall go on.
The Beat goes on.
Professor, maybe not everyone remembers that then AG Bill Barr appointed John Durham as Special Counsel because he criticized findings on the Justice Department Inspector General’s report on the Russia investigation [1]:
“[T]he core statement […] is that these irregularities, these misstatements, these omissions were not satisfactorily explained. And I think that leaves open the possibility to infer bad faith. I think it’s premature now to reach a judgment on that, but I think that further work has to be done, and that’s what Durham is doing. […] Durham is not limited to the FBI. He can talk to other agencies. He can compel people to testify. […] someone like Durham can compel testimony, he can talk to a whole range of people, private parties, foreign governments and so forth. […] Durham is […] looking at the issue of how it got started. He’s looking at whether or not the narrative of — of Trump being involved in the Russian interference actually preceded July. And was it, in fact, the precipitating trigger for the investigation. He’s also looking at the conduct of the investigation. […] But also a few weeks ago I told him that he should spend just as much attention on the post-election period. And I did that because of some of the stuff that Horowitz has uncovered, which to me is inexplicable. […] their case collapsed after the election and they never told the court and they kept on getting renewals on these applications. They — there was documents falsified in order to get these renewals. There was all kinds of withholding of information from the court. And the question really is, what was the agenda after the election that kept them pressing ahead after their case collapsed? He’s the president of the United States.”
* Did Durham answer Barr’s questions satisfactorily?
* Do we know which officials are holding accountable?
* What are consequences that Durham’s “findings and conclusions regarding these and related questions are sobering” [2] (pp 7-8)
* To which extent helped him Special Counsel’s power to obtain answers from Kevin Clinesmith, James Comey, Mark Elias, Rodney Joffe (Tech Company Neustar, Executive-1) Andrew McCabe, Mary McCord, Robert Mueller, Lisa Page, Bill Priestap, Rod Rosenstein, Glenn Simpson, Peter Strzok, Jack Sullivan, Michael Sussman, Andrew Weissmann, Christopher Wray, Sally Yates, etc
* Which lawyer was referred to Bar Association because s/he acted unethically?
* What’s about the attribution of the DNC hack?
* What new findings did the Fusion GPS emails produce?
* What new findings have investigation in “Millian” case produced?
* To what extent were information provided by Brittany Hertzog, Amy Anderson, and Alexey Pavlov helpful in relation to Charles Dolan investigation?
BTW.: The Special Counsel “exercised its judgment regarding what to investigate but did not investigate every public report of an alleged violation of law in connection with the
intelligence and law enforcement activities directed at the 2016 presidential campaigns (pp 3-4 of his report)”
[1] https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/12/11/full_interview_ag_bill_barr_criticizes_inspector_general_report_on_the_russia_investigation.html
[2] “Our review and investigation, in turn has focused on separate but related questions, including the following:
• Was there adequate predication for the FBI to open the Crossfire Hurricane investigation from its inception on July 31, 2016 as a full counterintelligence and Foreign Agents Registration Act (“FARA”) investigation given the requirements of The Attorney General’s Guidelines for FBI Domestic Operations and FBI policies relating to the use of the least intrusive investigative tools necessary?
• Was the opening of Crossfire Hurricane as a full investigation on July 31, 2016 consistent with how the FBI handled other intelligence it had received prior to July 31, 2016
concerning attempts by foreign interests to influence the Clinton and other campaigns?
• Similarly, did the FBI properly consider other highly significant intelligence it received at virtually the same time as that used to predicate Crossfire Hurricane, but which related not to the Trump campaign, but rather to a purported Clinton campaign plan “to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by Russian security services,” which might have shed light on some of the Russia information the FBI was receiving from third parties, including the Steele Dossier, the Alfa Bank allegations and confidential human source (“CHS”) reporting? If not, were any provable federal crimes committed in failing to do so?
• Was there evidence that the actions of any FBI personnel or third parties relating to the Crossfire Hurricane investigation violated any federal criminal statutes, including the prohibition against making false statements to federal officials? If so, was that evidence sufficient to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt?
• Was there evidence that the actions of the FBI or Department personnel in providing false or incomplete information to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (“FISC”)
violated any federal criminal statutes? If so, was there evidence sufficient to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt?”
There is a lot to digest in this report but the main question is what you do about it. With the power structure we have now there will be no convictions in Washington D.C. Your only recourse is electoral. The Republicans can clean this out if you have the right president and leadership in the Senate and House after 2024. If you do then you’re going to have to destroy or cut down the size of the money centers, change campaign finance, remove PAC’s, lay waste to the bureaucracy, probably push the filibuster to the side, move deep into the smaller government and rebuild the ethics of government service. Much of this you can do by legislation. Term limits would be nice but will never pass the Congress as an amendment , but a good and popular president could build a national consensus to pass them up through the states. There are many on both sides of the aisle who would support this. I see no Democrat that could do that at present and Trump is long on mouth and short on thought, and is easily deflected by any shiny object in his path. You need a leader who is thoughtful, with a well built and loyal team with experience in congress and executive experience as a governor. To me DeSantis is the one who could do it. Trump knows it also and he fears DeSantis or he would ignore him. Those present polls could easily flip in the long buildup to the election.
RFK Jr. Well that is interesting but he almost sounds like a moderate republican.
GEB,
I agree with you about DeSantis. Really would like to see him as the GOP candidate.
From what I have read, RFK Jr. sounds more like a old school JFK Democrat. Again, I agree with you; He sounds like a moderate Republican. I could vote for him.