Array
Democrats aren’t buying the findings of a years-long, independent investigation that found the FBI lacked “actual evidence” to justify its probe into whether former President Donald Trump colluded with the Russians to win the 2016 election.
The report by special counsel John Durham, Democrats on Capitol Hill said Tuesday, is “a huge nothing-burger,” and “flat out wrong” in its conclusion that the FBI based its decision to surveil the Trump campaign on shoddy, uncorroborated intelligence.
In fact, Democrats said, Mr. Trump continues to align himself with Russian President Vladimir Putin, even as he leads the GOP 2024 presidential primary field.
“Donald Trump acts like his intern,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, Maryland Democrat who helped prosecute Mr. Trump’s second impeachment trial, referencing Mr. Trump’s wavering support for U.S. aid to Ukraine as it fends off Russia’s military invasion.
Mr. Raskin said Mr. Trump’s ties with the Russians ahead of the 2016 campaign were evident. His campaign team met with Russian nationals, and there is plenty of evidence that Mr. Putin worked to destabilize presidential elections, he said.
“Obviously, the Durham investigation was a huge mega-flop and this is an attempt to divert everyone’s attention from the fact that they wasted millions of dollars of taxpayer money on this wild goose chase,” Mr. Raskin said.
Many Democrats in the House or Senate didn’t want to discuss the bombshell findings released Monday by Mr. Durham.
The 300-plus page report concluded the FBI’s decision to surveil the Trump campaign was based on “uncorroborated intelligence,” namely the now-debunked Steele Dossier that made outlandish allegations involving, among other claims, prostitutes urinating on a bed in a Russian hotel room.
The report found potential political bias in the FBI’s decision to investigate Mr. Trump, noting it differed markedly from the bureau’s dismissal of similar collusion allegations involving then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
After years of railing against Mr. Trump over the collusion claims, however, many Democrats weren’t interested enough in the topic to read the report.
