Durham Report Reveals FBI Mishandling of Trump-Russia Probe.

Special Counsel John Durham Releases Report on FBI Investigation of President Trump

Former Attorney General Bill Barr tasked Special Counsel John Durham with examining the FBI’s investigation of President Trump. On Monday, Durham released a 320-page report that found the FBI had no evidence to support a Trump-Russia scandal when it began its investigation. The report also found “sobering” differences in how the FBI approached the Trump probe compared to other politically sensitive investigations.

The FBI’s Investigation

The FBI immediately opened a full investigation based on a brief note from an Australian diplomat recounting that he had met with George Papadopoulos, a volunteer with the Trump campaign, in which he mentioned that Russia might have information negative to Hillary Clinton. The Durham report said, “At the time of the opening of Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI did not possess any intelligence showing that anyone associated with the Trump campaign was in contact with Russian intelligence officers at any point during the campaign.”

The probe later relied on the “Steele dossier,” which came from a circular loop of people with little insight into Russia. The FBI knew it was nothing but “rumor and speculation.”

The FBI’s Actions Compared to Other Investigations

The report found that the FBI moved with considerable caution in other proposed investigations that had the potential of affecting the election. In one such matter, FBI Headquarters and Department officials required defensive briefings to be provided to Clinton and other officials or candidates who appeared to be the targets of foreign interference. In another, the FBI elected to end an investigation after one of its longtime and valuable CHSs went beyond what was authorized and made an improper and possibly illegal financial contribution to the Clinton campaign on behalf of a foreign entity as a precursor to a much larger donation being contemplated.

The Steele Dossier

The report found that the Crossfire Hurricane investigators did not and could not corroborate any of the substantive allegations contained in the Steele reporting. Nor was Steele able to produce corroboration for any of the reported allegations, even after being offered $1 million or more by the FBI for such corroboration.

The FBI learned that Steele relied primarily on a U.S.-based Russian national, Igor Danchenko, to collect information that ultimately formed the core allegations found in the reports. Specifically, the investigation discovered that Danchenko himself had told another person that he (Danchenko) was responsible for 80% of the ‘intel’ and 50% of the analysis contained in the Steele Dossier.

The FBI knew in January 2017 that Danchenko had been the subject of an FBI counterintelligence investigation from 2009 to 2011. In late 2008, while Danchenko was employed by the Brookings Institution, he engaged two fellow employees about whether one of the employees might be willing or able in the future to provide classified information in exchange for money.

This is a breaking report and will be updated.

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