In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee last Wednesday, special counsel John Durham revealed that some of the FBI agents who had worked on the Crossfire Hurricane probe into Donald Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia had apologized and one became emotional when confronted with proof that the probe was part of the Clinton 2016 campaign’s effort to distract from her private email scandal, the Washington Times reported.
In his first public testimony since launching his 4-year probe into the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation, Durham told the Judiciary Committee that the FBI brass kept much of the critical details of the probe from the agents assigned to the investigation.
He accused FBI officials of being “too willing” to open an investigation based solely on “politically-funded and uncorroborated opposition research” from the Clinton campaign. The bureau also relied too heavily on the so-called Steele dossier, the oppo research funded by Fusion GPS on behalf of Hillary’s campaign, Durham said.
Using only the dossier, the FBI obtained FISA warrants, knowing that the material likely originated “from a political campaign or political opponent,” Durham told the committee.
But none of those details were shared with the agents tasked with investigating Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia, Durham revealed.
During his investigation into Crossfire Hurricane, Durham showed the details to the FBI agents assigned to the case. He told lawmakers that he had some agents come to him and apologize “for the manner in which that investigation was undertaken.”
He said he took their apologies “seriously,” adding that these agents are “good, hardworking, decent people.”
When Durham’s team showed the intelligence information to Joe Pientka, the first supervisor of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, Pientka said he had never seen the information before.
Durham told the committee that Pientka “immediately became emotional,” and had to leave the room. Pientka only returned after spending “some time in the hallway” with his lawyer.
