It is hard to count the number of attempts to smear former President Donald Trump, and although none of those attempts have found Trump guilty of breaking the law, that doesn’t keep his detractors from trying. Between Democrats in Congress and liberal media, stories have constantly been bantered about as if they are fact. For instance, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee responded to a well-timed New York Times report earlier this year that claimed that there were ethical concerns during Special Council John Durham’s investigation of the Trump-Russia investigation that led to several staff departures. They included alleged concerns over former Attorney General William Barr’s involvement in the probe, as well as the decision to go to trial lacking sufficient evidence.
“These reports about abuses in Special Counsel Durham’s investigation — so outrageous that even his longtime colleagues quit in protest — are but one of many instances where former President Trump and his allies weaponized the Justice Department,” committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) noted in a statement.
“The Justice Department should work on behalf of the American people, not for the personal benefit of any president. As we wait for the results of ongoing internal reviews, the Senate Judiciary Committee will do its part and take a hard look at these repeated episodes, and the regulations and policies that enabled them, to ensure such abuses of power cannot happen again,” he said.
Former President Trump lost no time in weighing in on the hot topic. Trump recently spoke about Special Counsel Durham’s two-year-long investigation, saying he thinks the probe is “just the beginning” of what will be revealed to the public.
“It looks like this is just the beginning, because, if you read the filing and have any understanding of what took place, and I called this a long time ago, you’re going to see a lot of other things happening, having to do with what, really, just is a continuation of the crime of the century,” Trump said. “This is such a big event, nobody’s seen anything like this.”
“Who would think a thing like this is even possible?” Trump said. “Durham is also coming up with things far bigger than anybody thought possible—Nobody ever thought a thing like this would be even discussed, let alone an act like this committed.”
Of course, given what Durham has uncovered, Democrats are primed to smear Durham’s findings and former Obama officials and Democrats are already taking aim at Durham and his final report. An Obama-era spokesman for the Department of Justice believes Durham should not get the final say over his own report, Conservative Brief reports.
Matthew Miller — who served as the director of the Department of Justice’s public affairs office between 2009 and 2011 — said that Attorney General Merrick Garland, or another high-ranking official within the department, should review the report before it is shared with Americans, once again trying to include those who sought to attack Trump and who may be connected to the actual findings to be part of the report, which should be an impartial statement.
“His cases are over. I think it’s clear that he’s not going to bring any more charges in this investigation, but one of the requirements for special counsels under the regulations is that they write a confidential report and submit it to the attorney general, and the attorney general then makes a decision whether to release that report to the public,” he said. “I think Merrick Garland will be under a lot of pressure from Republicans to release that report, but I have to say, this circumstance is very different from the Mueller investigation, where, obviously, the attorney general, Bill Barr, did release that report,” the former spokesman said.
“It’s different because in that case, the subject of that investigation could not be charged, and so it was appropriate for the department to make its findings public, so Congress could decide whether to impeach and convict the then-sitting president,” he said. “That is not the case here, so to release a report in this instance — given what we know about the way that Durham has behaved, some of his inappropriate public statements during this investigation, the poor judgments he has made in bringing these charges — to release a report publicly and let him have the final word I think probably unfairly tarnish some people at the FBI that we know he holds ill will to based on some of the things he said in this most recent trial.”
“But it does not have to be the last word. Lots of times in the past — there’s ample precedent for this — when the Justice Department has written reports like this, the leadership decides whether that actually reflects their view,” he said. “John Durham does not get to be the final arbiter of what the Justice Department believes, so it would be appropriate for Merrick Garland to either review it and come up with his conclusions or, maybe more appropriately, refer it to the senior career official.”
