Adam Schiff, who repeatedly claimed evidence of Russian collusion, condemns Durham report as ‘flawed’
Rep. Adam Schiff, a former chief Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, claimed the release of Special Counsel John Durham’s report on the origins of the Russia probe found the probe “flawed”.
“This is an investigation that began in a flawed manner, was conducted in a flawed manner, and the conclusion is a flawed conclusion,” Schiff told MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell on Tuesday.
Schiff went on to characterize Durham’s investigation as one that began because then-President Donald Trump “urged” his Attorney General Bill Barr to “investigate the investigators.”
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Adam Schiff starts his US Senate campaign in Burbank, California. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
The Democrat also claimed that Durham’s conclusions added “very little” to a two-year-old report by Inspector General Michael Horowitz — and did not prove “deep state conspiracy” as claimed by Trump and members of the GOP.
He called Durham’s investigation “a futile effort” and “four years of undermining the department”. [of justice] and a political prosecution.”
Schiff, who was kicked out of the committee by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, has since been replaced there by Rep. James Himes, D-Conn. — and has also announced an offer to replace incumbent Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
In the past, Schiff has repeatedly claimed that there is “clear evidence on the issue of collusion” between the Kremlin and Trump’s 2016 campaign.
“I don’t want to go into details, but I will say that there is evidence that is not circumstantial. But like I’ve always said, there’s a lot of evidence of collusion,” he told Meet The Press in 2017. .
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Rep. Ted Lieu, Mark Takano, Judy Chu and Adam Schiff appear to be enjoying bottles of Bud Light following the Dylan Mulvaney controversy (MP Ted Lieu/Twitter)
In The Story, William McGurn — a member of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board who had published an editorial calling Durham’s investigation a “daming account of the corruption of the FBI and its accomplices” — was asked about the disagreement with Schiff .
Anchor Trace Gallagher noted that the editorial board also claimed the FBI knew the discredited “dossier” put together by former MI6 spy Christopher Steele “came from Clinton and was fake from the start.”
McGurn said it’s no surprise that Democrats like Schiff, as well as those interviewed by Fox News Digital on Capitol Hill Tuesday, are dismissing the Durham report.
“The Russia collusion story was gaslighting against America. It was outrageous, the untruths, and it involved the highest levels of law enforcement and intelligence on this side,” McGurn said.
He said Barr appeared to have ignored his own personal differences with Trump to make it clear Tuesday that the former president had been confirmed and that the Russia probe was misplaced.
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“Only Adam Schiff spoke about the collusion in those clips. I mean, Durham said the FBI started the investigation without any evidence. He also found FBI bias and double standards.” [in] how they handled Hillary Clinton’s campaign,” he said.
“And the problem is that so many people in Washington have been caught up in this hoax that they don’t want the same thing. Your strategy now is to pretend it didn’t happen and not discuss it.”
The Fox News Digital montage interviewed Democratic Rep. Daniel Goldman of New York, Seth Moulton of Massachusetts and Jamie Raskin of Maryland.
Goldman, who previously served as the Democratic anti-Trump impeachment adviser, said it was “very disappointing to see a once venerable prosecutor clearly infected with political bias,” allegedly referring to Durham.
Meanwhile, Raskin, a member of the Jan. 6 House committee, called the probe “naked self-justification” for the millions of taxpayer dollars spent on “a wild hunt.”