Durham Goes Off On FBI, CIA, Schiff During Wednesday Testimony

Update (1351ET): More bombshells from Durham on Wednesday, where he told the House Judiciary Committee that the CIA knew that Hillary Clinton approved a plan to smear then-candidate Donald Trump with Russia allegations in order to distract from her classified email scandal, and that the FBI did not "sufficiently scrutinize information it received," nor "apply the same standards to allegations it received about the Clinton and Trump campaigns."

"The FBI was too willing to accept and use politically funded and uncorroborated opposition research, such as the Steele dossier," said Durham, adding "The FBI relied on the dossier and FISA applications, knowing there was likely material originating from a political campaign or political opponent."

Durham said that it's "going to take time to rebuild the public's confidence in the institution," referring to the FBI following its mishandling of the Russia collusion probe.

Under questioning from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Durham said former FBI Director Jim Comey withheld a referral memorandum from the agents working the Crossfire Hurricane case.

The memo contained intelligence from a high-level briefing with Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Brennan related to then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's attempts to tie Trump to Russia.

"They kept key intelligence from the investigators. This is how bad this investigation was but here's the scary part: I don't think anything has changed," Jordan said. -Just the News

A few highlights:

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Following the May 12 release of Special Counsel John Durham's long-awaited "Report on Matters Related to Intelligence Activities and Investigations Arising Out of the 2016 Presidential Campaigns," which found that the FBI's original investigation of Trump was unwarranted, Durham sat for testimony on Wednesday which was originally slated to be closed-door, only to be opened up for the public to see.

In comments to the House Judiciary Committee, Durham reiterated the report's findings that there was "not a legitimate basis" for the Crossfire Hurricane investigation - before shooting down several barbs from Democrats;

He also suggested Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) has a few skeletons in his closet.

Durham said that several FBI agents apologized to him for how the Trump investigation was run.

"The FBI was too willing to accept and use politically funded and uncorroborated opposition research such as the Steele Dossier," said Durham, who also confirmed that there was no collusion found between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.

More:

Of course, many would like to know why Durham didn't 'do anything' more meaningful in terms of prosecutorial recommendations.

To that end, Matt Taibbi suggests a few hard questions for Durham;

1. Why were former FBI Director James Comey and former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, along with FBI officials Bill Priestap, Peter Strzok, and Kevin Clinesmith, and others allowed to refuse cooperation?

2. Where is Mifsud?

3. Why were “omissions” or “misstatements” by FBI officials and/or their sources treated as such, and not as criminal lying, as would likely have happened in Robert Mueller’s investigation?

4. Why was Halper’s name kept out of the report? What other “informant” activity was obscured?

5. Why did you punt on the hack?

It's a great read which subscribers to Racket News can check out here.

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