Durham special counsel investigation
The Durham special counsel investigation began in 2019 when the U.S. Justice Department designated federal prosecutor John Durham to review the origins of an FBI investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. Durham was given authority to examine the government's collection of intelligence about interactions between the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump and Russians, and to review government documents and request voluntary witness statements.
In December 2020, Attorney General William Barr announced that he had elevated Durham's status and authority by appointing him as a special counsel, allowing him to continue the investigation after the end of the Trump presidency.
Durham's investigation followed claims by President Trump and his allies that the FBI Russia investigation, code-named Crossfire Hurricane, was improperly predicated and motivated by political bias. Trump characterized the FBI probe as a "hoax" and "witch hunt" initiated by his political enemies. It had investigation had examined contacts between Trump associates and Russian officials and led to the Mueller investigation, which resulted in indictments of 34 individuals and guilty pleas from several Trump associates.
In December 2019, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz released his report on Crossfire Hurricane finding the FBI had "authorized purpose" to open the investigation and no "documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced" the decision to do so. The report also identified 17 "significant errors or omissions" in the FBI's FISA applications. Attorney General Barr and Durham publicly disagreed with portions of Horowitz's findings, with Barr stating the investigation was launched on "the thinnest of suspicions."
In January 2023, The New York Times reported that concerns had been raised about politicization of Durham's investigation, and that Barr and Durham had sought evidence to support claims the Clinton campaign had promoted the Trump-Russia narrative.
After three-and-a-half-years, Durham indicted three men. One was an FBI lawyer who pleaded guilty to altering an email that was included in a June 2017 application for a surveillance warrant on a former Trump campaign aide; he was sentenced to probation. The other two men were tried and acquitted. According to conservative lawyer Andrew C. McCarthy, Durham's prosecution only charged the defendants with lying "about the identity or status of people from whom they were getting information, not about the information itself."
On May 15, 2023, Durham's final 306-page unclassified report was publicly released by Attorney General Merrick Garland. Durham concluded the FBI opened a full investigation based on "raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence" when only a preliminary investigation or assessment was warranted, and that the bureau applied a different standard when evaluating concerns about the Clinton campaign. The report found senior FBI personnel displayed confirmation bias and "a serious lack of analytical rigor toward the information that they received, especially information received from politically affiliated persons and entities." Durham recommended enhanced oversight of politically sensitive investigations.