Trump-Russia Collusion was a lie, the FBI had zero evidence it was true … and still went after presidential candidate-then President Donald Trump. So concludes the long-awaited report from Special Counsel John Durham.

The report is a vindication for Trump and all who were called conspiracy theorists when they called “Trump Russia Collusion” a hoax. 

Even CNN was forced to confess: “Special counsel John Durham finds the FBI should not have launched an investigation into Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.” And yet they did, and look at the mess Americans had to endure. 

JUST IN: Special counsel John Durham finds the FBI should not have launched an investigation into Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia during the 2016 election https://t.co/L8PicVXlgO

— CNN (@CNN) May 15, 2023

However, Crossfire Hurricane/Trump-Russia Collusion was not a hoax. A hoax is Jussie Smollett saying he was attacked by MAGA thugs at two in the morning. A hoax is Biden saying Trump called Nazis in Charlottesville “fine people.” This was a sophisticated black op with the most esteemed investigative organization in the world carrying the water for political forces out to wreck Donald Trump. 

Trump has reacted to the release of the report, telling Fox News Digital, “I, and much more importantly, then American public have been victims of this long-running and treasonous charade started by the Democrats — started by Comey. There must be a heavy price to pay for putting our country through this.”

Now the details. 

They Had No Evidence of Collusion Before They Started Spying and Investigating

According to Durham “neither U.S. nor the Intelligence Community appears to have possessed any actual evidence of collusion in their holdings at the commencement of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.” 

Crossfire Hurricane being the FBI’s code name for the counter-terrorism “investigation” and spying operation launched against Donald Trump and his 2016 campaign. So there was never any basis for any investigation. Period.

Oh, but the investigation itself was the point, wasn’t it? The means to hamper and perhaps stop Trump. Remember Peter Strzok and Lisa Page’s “insurance policy?” Or ripped from recent headlines, Alvin Bragg’s indictment of Trump over his payment to Stormy Daniels?

They Never Did Find Any Evidence of Collusion

FBI records prepared by [Peter] Strzok in February and March 2017 show that at the time of the opening of Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI had no information in its holdings indicating that at any time during the campaign anyone in the Trump had been in contact with any Russian intelligence officials.

Further, “Our investigation determined that the Crossfire Hurricane investigators did not and could not corroborate any of the substantive allegations contained in the Steele reporting.”

The FBI Ignored Its Rules, Ignored Contrary Evidence to Get Trump

But boy, did they bend the rules and ignore procedures in the effort. As Durham writes, DOJ and FBI “failed to uphold” the mission of “strict fidelity to the law.” He found 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.” 

The Department did not adequately examine or question these materials and the motivations of those providing them, even when at about the same time the Director of the FBI and others learned of significant and potentially contrary intelligence.

This one should send civil libertarians into a fury. They violated FISA requirements to spy on Trump and associates … even when they knew there was no basis.

The FBI personnel also repeatedly disregarded important requirements when they continued to seek renewals of that FISA surveillance while acknowledging — both then and in hindsight — that they did not genuinely believe there was probably cause to believe that the target was knowingly engaged in clandestine intelligence activities on behalf of foreign power.

Durham says the FBI acted “without appropriate objectivity or restraint” in pursuing the allegations against Trump.

The Special Counsel may put it all politely — especially in a report to the Biden DOJ — but the message is clear: They wanted Trump. Period.

Rep. Jim Jordan tweeted that he has already reached out to DOJ to have Durham testify next week.

Is Anybody Going to Jail for This?

Are these senior officials and their fellow conspirators going to prison for this? Of course not. In 2023?

Durham is not recommending any new charges against anybody for abusing their government power for political ends. Their dereliction. Their single-minded focus on waylaying Trump. In 2023, dual standards of justice are the only justice standards left. Undermining a presidency when the president is named Trump only gets you book deals and TV spots. And in Biden’s case, the presidency four years later.

Spying on Americans and political candidates even when you know there’s no basis? Using the massive machinery of government to impact elections and undermine a president? 2016 was child’s play compared to 2020 and now. 

Joe Biden and Barack Obama and the Rest Knew Trump-Russia Collusion Was a Fraud

We have to spell out the enormity of what Durham is saying … we know the media won’t. The FBI never had evidence of Trump-Russia collusion to start with when they began Crossfire Hurricane and they never found evidence of Trump-Russia collusion. The collusion never existed. And they knew it.

And yet, on January 5, 2021, President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden sat with FBI Director James Comey and Attorney General Loretta Lynch, along with CIA Director John Brennan, DNI James Clapper and Susan Rice. Together in the Oval Office, they plotted how to use this (bogus) Crossfire Hurricane investigation against the incoming Trump Administration. One topic was how much to tell Trump about the investigation. A day later, Comey went to Trump Tower to speak to Trump about the Steele Dossier.

Etch this in stone: AFTER HIS STRATEGY MEETING WITH OBAMA AND BIDEN, FBI DIRECTOR JAMES COMEY DID NOT TELL THE PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES THAT THE FBI HAD ALREADY INVESTIGATED THE STEELE DOSSIER AND FOUND ZERO EVIDENCE TO CORROBORATE ITS ALLEGATIONS OF TRUMP-RUSSIA COLLUSION.

Kinda important information for Comey to leave out, ya’ think?

Comey also did not mention that the CIA and FBI had already determined that Hillary Clinton’s campaign had come up with the Trump-Russia Collusion Hoax and had paid for the Steele Dossier and the massive, multi-front efforts to get the media and FBI to play up the imaginary collusion fable.

Instead, the Obama-Biden Administration leaked news of the meeting to CNN to give the network the “hook” it was looking for to run with the Steele Dossier, Trump-Russia collusion story.

Thus igniting the Trump-Russia Collusion mania that consumed the first two-and-a-half years of the Trump presidency. A narrative Joe Biden, Barack Obama and the rest knew was lie. 

Don’t talk to me again about January 6, 2021 until you acknowledge the real insurrection was January 5, 2017.

And Crossfire Hurricane was their main weapon.

 

Al Perrotta is the Managing Editor of The Stream, chief barista for The Brew and co-author, with John Zmirak, of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration. You can follow him at @StreamingAl at GETTR, Gab, Parler, and now at TRUTH Social.