‘The American Public Was Scammed!’ Trump Claims Vindication After Durham Report Says Russia Probe Was Unfounded
Screenshot / Truth Social
Minutes after Special Counsel John Durham released his report on the origins of the FBI’s investigation into possible ties between Russia and Donald Trump‘s 2016 campaign, the former president took to his Truth Social account to claim vindication:
WOW! After extensive research, Special Counsel John Durham concludes the FBI never should have launched the Trump-Russia Probe! In other words, the American Public was scammed, just as it is being scammed right now by those who don’t want to see GREATNESS for AMERICA!
Durham’s report determined that the FBI should never have launched an investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election.
He was appointed special counsel by Trump Attorney General Bill Barr. According to CNN, his 300-plus page report “levies criticism after criticism of how the FBI handled the Trump-Russia probe” and says the FBI “failed to uphold their important mission of strict fidelity to the law.” However, Durham did not recommend “any wholesale changes” to the DOJ or the bureau’s policies.
The report says that the DOJ and FBI should “recognize that lack of analytical rigor, apparent confirmation bias, and an over-willingness to rely on information from individuals connected to political opponents caused investigators to fail to adequately consider alternative hypotheses and to act without appropriate objectivity or restraint in pursuing allegations of collusion or conspiracy between a U.S. political campaign and a foreign power.”
Conservatives have taken to social media to proclaim Trump has been “exonerated” and was the victim of a “weaponized” DOJ and FBI.
The Intercept called Durham “Trump’s answer to Robert Mueller,” proclaiming, “Durham has used the criminal justice system to score political points, not to search for the truth.”
Attorney General Barr’s summary of the 2019 Mueller report found that there was no evidence of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, and that Mueller would not commit to whether or not Trump obstructed justice..
