Regrets? Are You Kidding?

As expected Jonathan Turley has written some more, including in article format, about the implications of the Durham Report. I say “the implications” because today he moves from browsing the details to plumbing some of the depths of the big picture of a corrupt Ruling Class degrading what began as a noble experiment: The American Republic. While he doesn’t go as far as I’d like to have seen him go, he is appropriately scathing:

Jonathan Turley

@JonathanTurley

The FBI issued a statement about its “missteps” -- hardly how one would describe a false narrative created by the Clinton campaign and pushed by the FBI or the derailing of a duly elected president for three years in a faux conspiracy...

The statement is ample evidence of a lack of remorse by the FBI like a habitual offender giving a shrug in his court “allocution” before a judge.

“Raw, Unanalyzed, and Uncorroborated”: Durham Releases Report on the Russian Collusion Investigation

I have columns coming out on the release of the long-awaited report from John Durham on the Russian collusion investigation. However, I wanted to post the report itself below. As expected, it is a scathing indictment of the Clinton campaign, the FBI, and the media for one of the most successful political hit jobs in history.

5:45 AM · May 16, 2023

“the Clinton campaign, the FBI, and the media” really only scratches the surface. What happened to the DoJ? The Obama WH operation? The broader Intel Cabal? The Gang of Eight, and especially Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell? How about the multiple National Security Advisers and their staffs—the people behind the faux impeachment theater? Did you think I’ve forgotten Bluto Barr? No, I haven’t. Admittedly the list goes on and on but, difficult as it is to provide a complete list, the effort needs to be made.

Also from the article linked above:

The report shreds the FBI and Justice Department ... The report notes that the treatment of the unsubstantiated allegations in the Steele Dossier, funded by the Clinton Campaign, was “markedly different” from the government’s level of interest in Clinton’s campaign when it faced such allegations.

Durham’s report confirmed that the FBI ignored intelligence it received from “a trusted foreign source pointing to a Clinton campaign plan to vilify Trump by tying him to Vladimir Putin ...”

Durham noted that “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 interference plans aimed at the Clinton campaign.”

Here are some brief experts from a more extended article by Turley. Again, not perfect, but he says several things that would make a less shameless Ruling Class hang their heads. As it is, they’re laughing today. Not at Durham—at you and me.

Durham Report Condemns the FBI’s Russia Probe — But Don’t Expect It to Make a Difference

Durham concluded that the Trump-Russia investigation was launched without a required minimal level of evidence ... Let that sink in: The Justice Department — as well as the media that covered it — effectively shut down a duly elected presidency, based on what turned out to be a politically engineered hoax.

Let’s not forget, however, that the politically engineered hoax remained operative even after Mueller was sent home. Turley does, backhandedly, hint at the continued backstabbing of Trump later.

That would make anyone angry. Really angry. Trump-level angry.

The night of the CNN townhall I was amazed at some of the comments by usually reliable conservatives who criticized Trump for his continuing anger over 2020—as if 2020 weren’t simply a continuation of the previous four years.

The fact is, in this instance, Donald Trump was correct when he said he was the target of a political hitjob.

Well, Trump said witchhunt, and maybe hitjob is the better term. We get the point, regardless.

The Durham report is everything that the FBI investigation was not. ... It exposes the origin of the collusion effort in the Clinton campaign, which hid its funding in legal fees. ...

There was little need for concealment, however, when there was so little interest in investigating the story, either by key FBI figures or by the media.

Durham clearly hopes that the belated transparency provided by his report will produce greater future accountability. That may be the only naive aspect of his findings.

Here I have to take issue. Durham is not just an experienced US Attorney. He also has a past history of investigating official corruption—including in the Intel Cabal. To suggest that Durham is naive about prospects for “greater future accountability” is, well, I hate to say that Turley is being a bit disingenuous here. Misplaced charity? After all, both Turley and Durham are well acquainted with the old saw: Justice “belated” is justice denied. Or you can substitute accountability for justice.

But now Turley moves on and gets close to the current war on Russia. After all, isn’t the entire Baidan Crime Family involvement in Ukraine also tied into that? Yes it is. And so …

the same pattern and figures reemerged in 2020, when another false narrative was created to dismiss the Hunter Biden laptop scandal. Some of the officials involved in the false Russia collusion conspiracy were signatories on the letter by 51 former intelligence officials claiming that the laptop story was likely "Russian disinformation."

Imagine that. Knock me down with a feather. But who, except for Turley, is even noticing that much of the real story?

And at the end Turley goes there. He says what encapsulates the degree of shameless, malevolent corruption we’re witnessing:

Conspicuously missing in the aftermath of Durham’s report is the one thing that would establish a clear commitment to reform: an apology. Clinton, Comey, members of Congress and others could apologize to the American people — and, yes, even to Trump.

That, of course, will never happen.

No regrets.