The Durham report criticized the FBI for its investigative actions in Russia

WASHINGTON — A special prosecutor has ended his four-year investigation into possible FBI misconduct in its probe into ties between Russia and Donald Trump's campaign in 2016 with sharp criticism of the bureau, but a court record that falls short of what the former president predicted he would disclose. “crime of the century.”

Report Monday from special counsel John Durham represents the culmination of a long-awaited investigation that Trump and his allies claim will uncover massive wrongdoing by law enforcement and intelligence officials. In contrast, the Durham investigation yielded disappointing results, with prosecutors obtaining a guilty plea from a little-known FBI employee but losing the only two criminal cases they went to trial.

The 300-page report chronicles what Durham says were a series of missteps by the FBI and the Justice Department as investigators launched an explosive political probe in the heat of the 2016 election into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to determine the outcome.

It criticized the FBI for opening a full investigation based on “raw intelligence, unanalyzed and unsupported,” saying the speed with which it was carried out was a deviation from the norm. And it said investigators repeatedly relied on “confirmation bias,” ignoring or rationalizing evidence that undermines their premise about the Trump-Russia conspiracy as they pushed the probe forward.

“Once again, the FBI's failure to critically analyze information that contradicts the collusive Trump/Russia narrative on display throughout Crossfire Hurricane is deeply troubling,” the report said. “Crossfire Hurricane” was the FBI's code name for the investigation.

Special counsel John Durham, the prosecutor appointed to investigate potential government misconduct in the Trump-Russia investigation, leaves federal court in Washington, May 16, 2022.

(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

The impact of the Durham report, while highly critical of the FBI, is likely blunted by Durham's opaque prosecution record and by the fact that many of the seven-year-old episodes it cites were thoroughly vetted by the Justice Department's inspector general.

The FBI has also long announced dozens of corrective actions. However, Durham's findings are likely to strengthen FBI oversight at a time when Trump is again seeking the White House as well as offering fresh bait for Republicans who have launched their own investigations into alleged FBI and Justice Department “weaponism.” .

The FBI released a letter to Durham outlining the changes it has made, including steps to ensure the accuracy of a covert surveillance application to eavesdrop on suspected terrorists and spies. He also emphasized that the report focuses on past leadership.

“Had those reforms been implemented in 2016, the missteps identified in the report could have been prevented. This report reinforces the importance of ensuring the FBI continues to perform its work with the thoroughness, objectivity, and professionalism the American people deserve and expect,” the FBI said in a statement. statement.

Durham, a former US Attorney in Connecticut, was appointed in 2019 by Trump's Attorney General, William Barr, soon after special counsel Robert Mueller completed his investigation into whether Trump's 2016 campaign had colluded with Russia to move election results in his office. kind.

Mueller's investigation resulted in about three dozen criminal charges, including convictions against half a dozen Trump associates, and concluded that Russia intervened on behalf of the Trump campaign and that the campaign welcomed the assistance. But Mueller's team didn't find they actually conspired to sway the election, creating an opening for critics of the inquiry – including Barr himself – to complain that it was launched without proper foundation.

The original Russian investigation opened in July 2016 after the FBI learned from an Australian diplomat that Trump campaign associate George Papadopoulos had claimed knowledge of “dirt” Russia had on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the form of hacked emails.

But disclosures over the ensuing months exposed flaws in the investigation, including errors and omissions in the Justice Department's application to eavesdrop on former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, as well as the FBI's reliance on a dossier of unsupported or discredited information compiled. by former British spy Christopher Steele.

Durham's team dug deep into the error, finding that investigators did not corroborate “a single substantive allegation” in Steele's so-called file and either ignored or rationalized what it claimed was extenuating information Trump associates had provided confidential FBI informants.

Durham's mandate was to scrutinize government decisions, and identify possible violations, in the early days of the Trump-Russia investigation. His appointment was welcomed by Trump, who in a 2019 interview with Fox News said Durham “should be the brightest and the best.” He and his supporters hope it will uncover a “deep state” conspiracy within the upper echelons of the FBI and other agencies to derail Trump's presidency and candidacy.

Durham and his team cast a wide net, interviewing top officials at the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the CIA. In his first year on the job, he traveled with Barr to Italy to meet with government officials as Trump himself asked the Australian prime minister and other leaders to help with the investigation. Weeks before his December 2020 resignation as attorney general, Barr appointed Durham as special counsel for the Department of Justice to ensure that he would continue his work in the Democratic administration.

The slow pace of the investigation irritated Trump, who berated Barr before he left office about the existence of a report that would not be released for several more years. By the end of the Trump administration, only one criminal case had been filed, while the sudden departure of key Durham deputy in the final months of Trump's term raised questions about whether the team was in sync.

Despite expectations that Durham would sue senior government officials, his team made only three demands. A former FBI attorney has pleaded guilty to altering an email the FBI used to eavesdrop on a former Trump campaign aide. Two other defendants – a lawyer for the Clinton campaign and a Russian-American think tank analyst – were both acquitted on charges of lying to the FBI.