Rep. Adam Schiff, formerly the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said special counsel John Durham’s report on the origins of the Russia probe revealed the probe was “flawed” .
“This is an investigation that began in a flawed manner, was conducted in a flawed manner, and its conclusion is a flawed conclusion,” Schiff told MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell on Tuesday.
Schiff characterized Durham’s investigation as one that began because then-President Donald Trump was “fooling” his attorney general, Bill Barr, into “investigating investigators.”
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Adam Schiff launches his US Senate campaign in Burbank, California. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
The Democrat also said Durham’s findings add “very little” to a two-year report by Inspector General Michael Horowitz and do not demonstrate a “deep state conspiracy” as alleged by Trump and members of the GOP.
He called the Durham investigation “wasted effort” and “four years of undermining the department.” [of justice] and a political prosecution”.
Schiff, who was kicked off the committee by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, has been replaced there by Rep. James Himes, D-Conn. – and has also announced a bid to replace incumbent Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
Schiff has repeatedly said in the past 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 as I have said all along, there is a lot of evidence of collusion,” he told “Meet The Press” in 2017. .
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Reps. Ted Lieu, Mark Takano, Judy Chu and Adam Schiff appear to enjoy bottles of Bud Light after Dylan Mulvaney controversy (Rep. Ted Lieu/Twitter)
In “The Story,” William McGurn, a Wall Street Journal editorial board member who had published an editorial calling the Durham investigation a “damning account of the corruption of the FBI and its accomplices,” was told he asked about the difference of opinion with Schiff. .
Anchor Trace Gallagher noted that the editorial board also claimed the FBI knew the discredited “dossier” compiled by ex-MI6 spy Christopher Steele “came from Clinton and was fake to begin with.”
McGurn said it’s not surprising that Democrats like Schiff, as well as those interviewed on Capitol Hill by Fox News Digital on Tuesday, are dismissive of Durham’s report.
“The Russia collusion story was America’s gaslighting. It was outrageous, the falsehoods, and it involved the highest levels of law enforcement and intelligence on this side of the ” McGurn said.
He said Barr apparently ignored his own personal differences with Trump to state clearly on Tuesday that the former president has been vindicated and that the Russia investigation was unsavory.
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“Only Adam Schiff there in those clips was talking about collusion. I mean, Durham said the FBI opened the investigation without any evidence. He also found bias in the FBI and found double standards. [in] how they treated the Hillary Clinton campaign,” he said.
“And the problem is that so many people in Washington were involved in this deception that they don’t want the same. Their strategy now is to pretend it didn’t happen and not discuss it.”
In the Fox News Digital montage, Democratic representatives Daniel Goldman of New York, Seth Moulton of Massachusetts and Jamie Raskin of Maryland were interviewed.
Goldman, who previously served as a Democratic impeachment lawyer against Trump, said “it’s very disappointing to see a once venerable prosecutor clearly infected by political bias,” apparently referring to Durham.
Meanwhile, Raskin, a member of the House Jan. 6 Committee, called the investigation “bare self-justification” of millions in taxpayer funds spent on “a wild goose chase.”
Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.
He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.
Charles covers media, politics and breaking news, and has covered the annual CPAC conference for Fox News Digital.
Charles is a native of Pennsylvania and graduated from Temple University with a BA in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.
