Originally published May 16, 2023 10:45 am PDT
Special Counsel John Durham’s long-awaited report on the Trump-Russia investigation, also known as Crossfire Hurricane, has concluded that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) should never have launched a full investigation into connections between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.
The 316-page report highlights significant failures in the FBI’s conduct, suggesting the investigation was deeply flawed and lacked the necessary rigor and objectivity.
Role of Christopher Steele and the “Steele Dossier”
Durham’s report scrutinizes the role of Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer, and the infamous “Steele Dossier.”
The dossier contained allegations about connections between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Durham noted that “the Crossfire Hurricane team obtained information from Steele’s Primary Sub-source in January 2017 that raised significant questions about the reliability of the Steele election reporting.”
The report goes on to detail the involvement of Charles Dolan, a PR executive with ties to the Democratic party and Russian public relations professionals, suggesting he may have been a source of some information in the Steele Dossier.
Unverified Allegations
The report further alleges that Dolan “fabricated the allegation about [Paul] Manafort that appeared in the Steele Report.”
Despite these revelations, “when interviewed by the FBI, Danchenko [Steele’s primary source] denied that Dolan was a source for any information in the Steele Reports.”
Durham’s report also delves into the dossier’s most damning allegations, specifically those attributed to Sergei Millian, who was supposedly one of Danchenko’s sub-sources.
“The evidence uncovered by the Office showed that Danchenko never spoke with Sergei Millian and simply fabricated the allegations that he attributed to Millian,” the report states.
FBI’s Failure to Interview Charles Dolan
The report criticizes the FBI for not interviewing Dolan despite his possible relevance to the Steele Dossier.
Despite interviewing hundreds of other individuals, the FBI never reached out to Dolan.
The report states that there “does not appear to have been an objectively sound reason for the FBI’s failure to interview Dolan.”
Alfa Bank Allegations
Durham’s report also investigates the allegations of a covert communications channel between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa Bank.
Michael Sussmann, a Perkins Coie attorney, provided data purporting to show this connection to the FBI.
However, Durham reveals that “cyber experts from the FBI examined the materials given to Baker and concluded that they did not establish what Sussmann claimed they showed.”
A Failure to Uphold the Law
The report concludes that “the Department and the FBI failed to uphold their important mission of strict fidelity to the law in connection with certain events and activities described in this report.”
It highlights several instances of FBI personnel disregarding requirements and ignoring significant exculpatory information.
Durham writes, “Our investigation also revealed that senior FBI personnel displayed a serious lack of analytical rigor towards the information that they received, especially information received from politically affiliated persons and entities.”
He further suggests that the answer to these issues is not necessarily the creation of new rules but a renewed fidelity to existing guidelines and policies, concluding that the ultimate responsibility lies with “the integrity of the people who take an oath to follow the guidelines and policies currently in place, guidelines that date from the time of Attorney General Levi and that are designed to ensure the rule of law is upheld.”
Read the full report below:
