House Democrat Takes the Gloves Off in Contentious Exchange With Durham: ‘You Sound Like’ a ‘Partisan Hack’
California Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) poured cold water on the House Judiciary hearing with Special Counsel John Durham on Wednesday and accused the Trump-appointed DOJ official at one point of acting like a “partisan hack.”
Durham was appointed in April 2019 by then-Attorney General Bill Barr to look into the origins of the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation. After four years, Durham finally released a 300-page report last month that accused the FBI of “acting negligently by opening the investigation based on vague and insufficient information, but did not provide any new evidence that anyone in the government had acted unlawfully,” reported NBC News.
Lieu, a former Air Force lawyer and colonel, began his questioning of Durham saying, “I’d like to ask you the following simple yes or no questions. Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was convicted, correct?”
“That’s correct,” Durham responded after asking to have the question repeated.
“Trump’s foreign policy adviser to the campaign, George Papadopoulos, was convicted, correct?” Lieu added.
“That’s correct,” Durham replied.
“Trump’s former deputy campaign manager, Rick Gates, was convicted. Correct?” Lieu continued.
“Not in connection with the Russia matter,” shot back Durham.
“All right. Mr. Durham, you can hold yourself out as an objective deportment justice official or as a partisan hack. The more that you try to spin the facts and not answer my questions, you sound like the latter. So I’m just asking this simply,” Lieu continued, taking a jab at Durham.
“Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was convicted, correct?” Lieu then asked.
“That’s correct,” Durham replied.
“Trump’s longtime advisor, Roger Stone, was convicted, correct?” Lieu asked.
“Correct,” Durham replied, after again asking for the question to be repeated.
“In contrast to multiple Trump associates who were convicted, you brought two cases to a jury trial based on this investigation, and you lost both. And so I don’t actually know what we’re doing here because the author of the Durham Report concedes that the FBI had enough information to investigate and thank goodness FBI did, because multiple Trump associates who committed crimes were held accountable. And the best way to summarize what happened is, thank you to the brave men and women of the FBI for doing their jobs. I yield back,” Lieu concluded.
Watch the full clip above via C-SPAN.
