House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said Sunday that the committee is going to take a “good, hard look” at individuals highlighted in the recently released Durham report and that “nothing is off the table” in terms of potential probes.
Jordan made the remarks in an interview on Fox News, in which he was asked about pursuing new investigations in light of special counsel John Durham’s report, which found that the FBI dropped four criminal investigations into former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
The long-awaited Durham report (pdf) showed that the FBI began investigating claims in late 2014 that two foreign governments were trying to make illegal donations to buy influence during Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Later, three different FBI field offices launched probes into the Clinton Foundation for “possible criminal activity.”
Durham found that all the criminal investigations into the Clintons were later shut down by senior officials, with agents cited in the report as saying that the probes lingered as investigators were “tippy-toeing” around Clinton because they thought she would become the next president and they were “scared with the big name [Clinton].”
At the same time, Durham found that the probe into former President Donald Trump should have never been launched and faulted the FBI for using a different standard compared to the Clintons in weighing whether it should open an investigation into Trump.
Following the release of the Durham report, several Republicans called for the investigations into the Clintons to be reopened, while Jordan was asked during the Fox News interview whether he thought any individuals named in the report should be subject to a congressional inquiry.
“Are there people that were highlighted in the Durham investigation and the Durham report that we need to talk to on the Judiciary Committee? We’re going to give that a good, hard look,” Jordan told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo.
“Nothing is off the table,” he added, “because it is critical the American people understand how their government—their agencies—have been turned on them, the taxpayer, and we get all the facts out there.”
Jordan added that there would be talks with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on “where to proceed from here.”
The Epoch Times has reached out to the Clinton Foundation with a request for comment.
The Durham Report
In 2019, Durham was tasked with investigating the origins of the FBI’s probe into allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to sway the 2016 election.
A year later, then-Attorney General William Barr appointed Durham as special counsel on the investigation, which culminated in the recently released report.
In the report, Durham faulted the FBI for various flaws in pursuing surveillance of the Trump campaign ahead of the 2016 presidential election, while concluding that the agency should never have launched its investigation into alleged collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia.
Durham said there appeared to be anti-Trump bias on the part of some FBI agents “intimately involved in the matter,” who he said had a “predisposition” to launch the probe, which eventually became known as Crossfire Hurricane.
The special counsel also found that the FBI relied too much on unvetted investigative tips from Trump’s political opponents and did not rigorously analyze the information it received.
He concluded that “neither U.S. nor the Intelligence Community appears to have possessed any actual evidence of collusion in their holdings at the commencement of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.”
At the same time, Durham found that the FBI used a different standard when considering investigating allegations of election interference by then-candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
The FBI responded to the Durham report hours after its release with a statement that acknowledged “missteps” in its investigation into alleged Trump–Russia ties.
Trump said in statements on social media that the FBI probe into alleged links between his 2016 presidential campaign and Russian operatives was part of a criminal and treasonous plot to overthrow his presidency.
‘Egregious Abuse of Power’
Two Republicans who have announced their bids for the White House in 2024—Vivek Ramaswamy and Perry Johnson—both said they’re glad the Durham report came out and were sharply critical of the FBI for its handling of the Trump–Russia probe.
“Although I am running for president as a Republican alternative to Donald Trump, I am thrilled that our former president has been rightfully exonerated by report findings,” Johnson told The Epoch Times. “We must unite against corruption and celebrate when truth prevails.”
Ramaswamy told The Epoch Times in a statement: “Enough is enough. Root out the corruption and shut down the FBI.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has also weighed in on the Durham report, demanding accountability from “weaponized” federal agencies that he accused of “egregious abuse of power” in manufacturing a “false conspiracy theory” about Trump–Russia collusion.
“The Durham Report confirmed what we already knew: weaponized federal agencies manufactured a false conspiracy theory about Trump-Russia collusion,” DeSantis wrote on Twitter. “It reminds us of the need to clean house at these agencies, as they’ve never been held accountable for this egregious abuse of power.”
While DeSantis has not officially announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election, there are signs he’s preparing to run.
Meanwhile, Trump said the findings of the Durham report prove the existence of a plot on the part of his political opponents to interfere in the 2016 election.
“The Durham Report spells out in great detail the Democrat Hoax that was perpetrated upon me and the American people,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“This totally illegal act had a huge impact on the Election,” the former president added, describing it as the “Crime of the Century.”
FBI Admits to ‘Missteps’
The FBI said in a letter to Durham (pdf) that it agrees with the flaws the special counsel identified in his report, while detailing a series of steps to “identify shortcomings” and prevent similar errors in the future.
In a statement responding to Durham’s report, the FBI said that the “missteps” identified by the special counsel could have been prevented if the “dozens of corrective actions” that have since been implemented at the agency had been in place back in 2016.
“This report reinforces the importance of ensuring the FBI continues to do its work with the rigor, objectivity, and professionalism the American people deserve and rightly expect,” the FBI said.
Some of the reforms the FBI has since implemented include, according to its letter to Durham, installing more rigorous requirements for applying for surveillance; requiring personnel training for surveillance applications; updating agency guidelines on vetting confidential human resources; requiring additional approval for opening “sensitive” investigative measures; and expanding its internal oversight and auditing programs.
The FBI also said that the questionable conduct uncovered in Durham’s report occurred under the previous leadership and that all the senior executives overseeing the Trump–Russia probe have left the agency.
From The Epoch Times