The special counsel who spent four years investigating the Trump-Russia probe accused the FBI of acting negligently by opening the investigation based on vague and insufficient information in a sweeping 300-page report made public Monday.
Special Counsel John Durham, named by attorney general Bill Barr to examine the origins and conduct of the investigation into whether former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia, criticized the FBI at length in the report.
“The (Justice) Department and the FBI failed to uphold their important mission of strict fidelity to law,” the conclusion section of Durham’s report says. “Senior FBI personal displayed a serious lack of analytical rigor toward the information they received, especially information received from politically affiliated persons or entities.”
The FBI responded to the report, indicating that the missteps identified by Durham have already been addressed.
“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,” the statement said. “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.”
Durham lost the only two prosecutions he brought to court. But the report released Monday appeared to be an appeal to the court of public opinion — an argument that Trump was treated unfairly by FBI officials who were too quick to unleash the bureau’s investigative powers.
Trump allies have been eager to see the report, arguing that Durham would make clear what the former president has been saying all along — that his campaign did nothing wrong but that the Obama administration was using the power of the federal government to try to…
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