FBI Official Surprises Lawmakers with Durham Report Admission

Daniel ChaitinMay 25, 2023

FBI Official Admits to Not Reading Durham Report

A senior FBI official shocked GOP members of Congress during a hearing on Tuesday when she admitted to not having read or been briefed on special counsel John Durham’s report. Jill Murphy, the FBI’s deputy assistant director of counterintelligence, claimed that she had not had time to read the report, which heavily criticized the FBI’s probe into alleged links between Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia. Murphy’s admission left Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX) “speechless.”

The FBI’s Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence tells @HomelandGOP:

“I have not read the Durham report.” pic.twitter.com/3EOlLHVpPG

— Rep. August Pfluger (@RepPfluger) May 23, 2023

Although the hearing was focused on Chinese Communist Party “aggression,” other members of the subcommittee took the opportunity to talk about Durham’s report. Under questioning by Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC), Murphy conceded that she had not even been briefed on the report.

.@RepDanBishop: “The Durham Report “has been out since the 12th of this month…Mr. Goldman’s obviously been briefed on it…! Why is that not a matter of such import that you would want urgently to understand what the special counsel concluded…?

FBI Assistant Director of… pic.twitter.com/nNcEpuEnlt

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 23, 2023

Bishop said the report was “devastating” to the FBI and should be of “grave concern” to Murphy in particular because of her role. Murphy offered to take a brief on the report from the Counterintelligence Division, but Bishop was not satisfied with her response.

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), who offered a negative critique of the Durham inquiry, took aim at his Republican colleagues for being heavily critical of the FBI and even talking about defunding the agency. “The problem they have is that the FBI is doing its job in investigating their dear leader Donald Trump,” Goldman said. “And if you can undermine the investigator, if you can undermine independent journalists doing investigative reporting, then you can undermine our entire system of democracy.”