Senator Josh Hawley called for prosecutions of Democrats and members of Hillary Clinton’s campaign after special counsel John Durham released his long-awaited report indicating the DOJ and FBI used “uncorroborated intelligence” to launch an investigation into suspected ties between Russia and the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump.
Durham’s report, details of which were released on Monday, found that the FBI did not have enough “factual evidence” to investigate allegations of Trump-Russia collusion and revealed that they and the Department of Justice “failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law.”
Two of the highest-level organizations in the United States of America failed to uphold the law in launching an investigation against a candidate for President that would dog him for years to come and undermine his administration. That was the real coup. That was the real insurrection.
“The speed and manner in which the FBI opened and investigated Crossfire Hurricane during the presidential election season based on raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence also reflected a noticeable departure from how it approached prior matters involving possible attempted foreign election inference plans aimed at the Clinton campaign,” the report states.
It later adds, “The FBI had no information in its holding indicating that any time during the campaign anyone in the Trump campaign had been in contact with any Russian intelligence officials.”
CNN’S Jake Tapper says the Durham report — which found the Russian collusion probe should’ve never been launched — is “devastating to the FBI” pic.twitter.com/HXxSOssuN4
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) May 15, 2023
Josh Hawley Wants to See Prosecutions Following Durham Report
Hawley (R-MO), who serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, spoke with Fox News host Jesse Watters Monday evening and suggested the time for talk is over.
“There needs to be a lot more than reports, Jesse. People need to be prosecuted for this,” Hawley said. “The Clinton campaign and Hillary Clinton herself.”
Hawley also called for the FBI as it currently stands to be abolished and rebuilt from the ground up.
“Is it any coincidence that (Clinton) is tweeting about collusion at exactly the same time her campaign operatives are feeding this BS to the FBI?” he asked. “I don’t think so. There needs to be consequences for her and also for the FBI.”
Hillary and the Democrats tried to use the FBI to rig a presidential election. There need to be consequences – and prosecutions pic.twitter.com/WfkiRqEZuH
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) May 16, 2023
Hawley demanded that justice be served following the Durham report.
“You can’t interfere in a presidential election without consequences … and that’s what happened here.”
“One political party – the Democrats – tried to use the FBI to rig a presidential election and just about got away with it,” Hawley added.
“There needs to be prosecutions. There needs to be accountability. And the FBI has got to be overhauled now, top to bottom,” he continued. “It’s got to be completely reformed, it cannot go on like it is.”
Just about got away with it? They did get away with it.
My feelings on the #DurhamReport.
Thanks for nothing! pic.twitter.com/3511q64wTA
— Chief Trumpster (@ChiefTrumpster) May 15, 2023
Donald Trump Weighs In
Former President Donald Trump weighed in on the contents of the Durham report and called those involved in the presidential coup attempt “scum.”
“THEY ARE SCUM, LIKE COCKROACHES ALL OVER WASHINGTON, D.C.,” he lashed out on his Truth Social media platform. “Congratulations to John Durham on a Report that is being praised for its quality, importance, and professionalism, by friend and foe alike!”
The FBI also responded to the report by issuing an infuriating statement with a non-apology.
“The conduct in 2016 and 2017 that Special Counsel Durham examined was the reason that current FBI leadership already implemented dozens of corrective actions, which have now been in place for some time,” they wrote.
“Had those reforms been in place in 2016, the missteps identified in the report could have been prevented.”
Statement on Report by Special Counsel John Durhamhttps://t.co/lcow0ea3mG pic.twitter.com/T4vXqoOMrp
— FBI (@FBI) May 15, 2023
That statement alone shows that Hawley is correct – the FBI needs to be abolished in its entirety and replaced. These weren’t missteps, they were designed intentionally to take down a particular presidential candidate and then undermine his entire presidency through false allegations.
Not to mention, they’ve never admitted to mass wrongdoing in 2016 and 2017 and to simply pass off this bombshell report as, ‘Meh, we already took care of it’ is reprehensible.
Nobody in their right mind trusts the FBI, nor should they. And if they think anybody is simply going to take their word that they’ve fixed the mass “bias” problem laid out in the Durham report, they are sadly mistaken.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan called for Congress to leverage the budget to force reform at the FBI and DOJ.
Excuse us for a minute while we respond …
Come on, man.
Republicans can’t even leverage the debt ceiling to rein in spending. They can’t leverage the budget to stop inflation-inducing spending. They can’t force audits to stop the current money laundering in Ukraine. But they’re going to finally step in and break up the FBI by withholding money?
“The only way we can hold them accountable is to go at the one thing that everybody cares about: the money,” Jordan said.
Tighten the pursestrings. Demand prosecutions. All that is well and good, but we’ve heard this broken record before. Get back to us, Republicans, when you finally hold somebody accountable for the first time.
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