The Durham report highlights that the FBI treated the Clinton and Trump campaigns in a significantly different manner.
According to the final report by Special Counsel John Durham on the investigation into alleged election collusion between Trump and Russia, the FBI and Justice Department investigated Trump's campaign without sufficient evidence, which was a significant deviation from their reluctance to investigate claims against Clinton's campaign.
The report on the FBI's "Crossfire Hurricane" investigation, which Durham had been working on for a long time, was submitted to Congress on Monday. The report disclosed that the FBI and DOJ did not adhere to their duty of strictly following the law when they initiated the Trump-Russia investigation.
According to Durham's report, there was a significant contrast between the extent of the government's attention towards the Trump investigation and that towards Clinton's campaign.
According to Durham's report, the FBI informed Clinton's staff about potential threats to her campaign, but disregarded information from a reliable foreign source that suggested Clinton's campaign planned to discredit Trump by linking him to Putin. The report also noted that the FBI's handling of the investigation into possible foreign interference in the election was different from previous cases involving Clinton's campaign. The FBI acted quickly and based their investigation on unverified intelligence.
According to the report, during the 18 months before the 2016 election, the FBI had to handle several suggested investigations that could have impacted the election.
The FBI acted with great care in all cases, including those involving Clinton. In one situation, FBI Headquarters and Department officials felt it necessary to give Clinton and other officials or candidates who were potentially targeted by foreign interference a briefing to protect them. This information is stated in the report.
The FBI decided to terminate an investigation when one of their trusted confidential human sources made an unauthorized and potentially illegal financial donation to the Clinton campaign on behalf of a foreign entity, which was seen as a preliminary step towards a much larger donation.
Trump has stated that Comey and the Democrats should face severe consequences following the release of the Durham report. The report revealed that during the Clinton Foundation investigation, senior officials from the FBI and Department imposed limitations on how the matter was to be dealt with, resulting in no investigative actions being taken for several months before the election.
The report discovered that while the FBI initiated a complete investigation of unidentified individuals in the Trump campaign based on unverified data, they did not take any action, such as opening an inquiry, assigning tasks, employing analytical staff, or generating analytical outputs, in relation to the supposed Clinton campaign plan.
The Durham report states that the DOJ and FBI did not fulfill their duty of strictly adhering to the law during the investigation into Trump-Russia. Despite the importance of the intelligence regarding the Clinton plan, which prompted high-level briefings, no action was taken.
The FBI responded to the report on Monday by stating that the actions investigated by Special Counsel Durham in 2016 and 2017 were the reason why the current FBI leadership had already taken corrective measures, which have been in place for some time. To obtain the Fox News app, click here.
If the reforms had been implemented in 2016, the errors highlighted in the report could have been avoided.
This report emphasizes the significance of maintaining the FBI's commitment to performing their duties with the thoroughness, impartiality, and expertise that the American public deserves and anticipates.