Durham report: Barr touts special counsel investigation into Trump inquiry as ‘success’

Former Attorney General William Barr touted special counsel John Durham’s investigation as a “success.”

In an appearance on Fox News, Barr hailed Durham’s final report as vindicating former President Donald Trump and accomplishing what it set out to do. He stressed that the investigation, which he commissioned in 2019, wasn’t intended to find criminal wrongdoing but only to get to the bottom of the FBI’s handling of its investigation into alleged collusion between Trump and the Russian government.

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“I take away from [the Durham report] that it was a success in that its purpose from the very beginning was to get to the truth,” Barr answered when asked what his main takeaway from the final report was.

“It was not launched as a criminal investigation, and people who compare it to the Mueller investigation are simply wrong. I asked [Durham] to get to the bottom of it, to get his arms around the truth. If he found crimes, we could prosecute them. But I think that’s what he has done; he has dug into it, and I think he has gotten as close to the bottom as anyone is going to get to this,” Barr continued.

Barr also accused the FBI of abandoning “any semblance of professionalism,” saying the agency took up the cause with a vengeance.

“I think the real story here, from the FBI’s perspective, is what an abomination this was,” Barr said. “This so-called investigation, you know, if it wasn’t a witch hunt, it’s a damn good imitation of one.”

Barr also condemned the FBI and those who encouraged the Mueller investigation into Russian collusion as having “ruined the country through their conspiracy-mongering.”

However, Barr also offered a defense of the FBI as it stands currently, arguing that the issues in the Russian collusion investigation came from the top so don’t necessarily indict the FBI as a whole.

“This was not necessarily institutional rot,” he said. “This was from the top.”

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Barr said the reforms initiated by himself and FBI Director Christopher Wray largely solved the problems that led to the Russia investigation.

Durham’s final report was released on Monday. Though not recommending any criminal charges, the special counsel issued a scathing indictment of the agency, writing that its handling of the investigation was “seriously deficient” and caused “severe reputational harm.”