Rep. Adam Schiff, formerly the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, claimed the release of Special Counsel John Durham’s report on the origins of the Russia investigation revealed the probe was “flawed.”
“This is an investigation that started in a flawed manner, it was conducted in a flawed manner, and its conclusion is a flawed conclusion,” Schiff told MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell on Tuesday.
Schiff went on to characterize Durham’s probe as one that began because then-President Donald Trump was “badgering” his attorney general, Bill Barr, to “investigate the investigators.”
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The Democrat also claimed Durham’s conclusions add “very little” to a two-year-old report from Inspector General Michael Horowitz – and does not prove a “deep state conspiracy” as alleged by Trump and members of the GOP.
He called Durham’s investigation “wasted effort” and “four years of undermining the department [of justice] and a political prosecution.”
Schiff, who was booted from the committee by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, has since been replaced there by Rep. James Himes, D-Conn. – and has also announced a bid to replace incumbent Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
In the past, Schiff has repeatedly claimed there is “clear evidence on the issue of collusion” between the Kremlin and Trump’s 2016 campaign.
“I don’t want to go into specifics, but I will say that there is evidence that is not circumstantial. But as I’ve said all along, there’s plenty of evidence of collusion,” he told “Meet The Press” in 2017.
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On “The Story,” William McGurn – a member of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board which had released an editorial calling Durham’s probe a “damning account of the corruption of the FBI and its accomplices” – was asked about the difference in opinion with Schiff.
Anchor Trace Gallagher noted the editorial board also claimed the FBI knew the discredited “dossier” compiled by ex-MI6 spy Christopher Steele “came from Clinton and was phony to begin with.”
McGurn said it is no surprise Democrats like Schiff, as well as those interviewed on Capitol Hill by Fox News Digital on Tuesday, are dismissing the Durham report.
“The Russia collusion story was the gaslighting of America. It was outrageous, the falsehoods, and it involved the highest levels of law enforcement and intelligence on that part,” McGurn said.
He said that Barr seemingly ignored his own personal differences with Trump to clearly state Tuesday that the former president has been vindicated and that the Russia probe was untoward.
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“Only Adam Schiff there in those clips talked about the collusion. I mean, Durham said the FBI opened the investigation without any evidence. He also found bias in the FBI, and he found double standards [in] how they treated the Hillary Clinton campaign,” he said.
“And the problem is so many people in Washington were implicated in this hoax that they don’t want the same thing. Their strategy now is to pretend it didn’t happen and not discuss it.”
In the Fox News Digital montage, Democratic Reps. Daniel Goldman of New York, Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, and Jamie Raskin of Maryland were interviewed.
Goldman, who previously served as Democratic impeachment counsel against Trump, said it “is very disappointing to see a once venerable prosecutor clearly infected by political bias,” ostensibly referring to Durham.
Meanwhile, Raskin, a member of the House January 6 Committee, called the probe a “naked self-justification” for the millions taxpayer funds spent on “a wild goose chase.”
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