Jake Tapper of CNN broke down some of the most important findings from the investigation conducted during the Trump administration into the beginnings of the FBI's inquiry into Trump's 2016 campaign ties to Russia. Special Counsel John Durham has been working on his report for a long time and it was finally released on Monday.
Tapper introduced CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez and said, "Durham finally released his report, finding that the FBI in his view should have never launched a full investigation into possible connections between Donald Trump, his campaign, his advisers and allies, and Russia during the 2016 election."
The report is more than 300 pages lengthy, Evan. He worked on it for almost four years. What else was there for him to discover? Tapper questioned Perez.
"Well, Jake, in the end, John Durham believes that there was justification for the FBI to at least do some exploratory, lower-level types of inquiries. The FBI had a lot of information in their control, but he consistently claims that he doesn't think that they did," Perez retorted.
Wasn't that a defence? Tapper queried.
Perez responded, saying: "Of course, we know that, you know, there was plenty of suspicions, in part because the former president hired a person in Paul Manafort as his campaign chairman, who was deeply indebted to a Russian oligarch, someone who was very close to the Kremlin. That would have been exculpatory, that would have explained some of their suspicions about Donald Trump, about some of the people surrounding his campaign. That is but one of the numerous data pieces the FBI was pursuing when conducting their investigation.
The bottom line, he says, is that according to the evidence gathered during the numerous, in-depth, and expensive federal investigations into these issues, including the current investigation, neither U.S. law enforcement nor the intelligence community appeared to have any actual evidence of collusion in their possession at the start of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. He is stating that he has studied this for four years. He looked into a wide variety of subjects. Many errors were committed by the FBI.
After that, Perez read a statement from FBI Director Chris Wray claiming that the agency has already "made a lot of reforms" in response to Durham's criticism.
Perez cut in, "Confirmation bias is what Durham calls it," and Tapper said, "A lot of people who follow law enforcement might not be surprised that in general, sometimes there is an overzealousness and an effort to."
Tapper concurred, "Yeah, confirmation bias."
In response to a frequent accusation levelled about the FBI's Trump-Russia investigation, Perez clarified, "Not political prejudice.
The presidents and contenders for president aren't the only ones who experience it. You know, it happens to the little guy, too," Perez continued as Tapper spoke.
To the street's young men. They also don't receive four-year, multi-million dollar investigations that would clear them, Tapper added. Nevertheless, having accountability is a good thing, right?
Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), a former Republican congressman, was Tapper's next guest. "Let's start with how you felt about the Durham report. And at first glance, I mean, there's nothing, no criminality that he identified, but it's extremely devastating for the FBI," Tapper said Kinzinger.
You guys hit the nail on the head when you talked about confirmation bias, Kinzger affirmed, adding, "Yeah, it is. After all, 2016 has begun. As far as I can remember, this is the first presidential contender to have shown support for Vladimir Putin. Paul Manafort-related concerns were present.
You might recall that the Republican Party removed its support for Ukraine from its platform at the Republican National Convention. I therefore believe that many individuals are asking, "What's going on here?" With regard to the former president's continued sympathies for Vladimir Putin, my fellow party members and I had some serious reservations.
But the FBI's actions shouldn't be dictated by that. The FBI must prevent the realization of their biases, whether they be against that or something else. And perhaps, the independent counsel's report will bring about change at the FBI. Hopefully, some of this has already been done.
Tapper introduced CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez and said, "Durham finally released his report, finding that the FBI in his view should have never launched a full investigation into possible connections between Donald Trump, his campaign, his advisers and allies, and Russia during the 2016 election."
The report is more than 300 pages lengthy, Evan. He worked on it for almost four years. What else was there for him to discover? Tapper questioned Perez.
"Well, Jake, in the end, John Durham believes that there was justification for the FBI to at least do some exploratory, lower-level types of inquiries. The FBI had a lot of information in their control, but he consistently claims that he doesn't think that they did," Perez retorted.
Wasn't that a defence? Tapper queried.
Perez responded, saying: "Of course, we know that, you know, there was plenty of suspicions, in part because the former president hired a person in Paul Manafort as his campaign chairman, who was deeply indebted to a Russian oligarch, someone who was very close to the Kremlin. That would have been exculpatory, that would have explained some of their suspicions about Donald Trump, about some of the people surrounding his campaign. That is but one of the numerous data pieces the FBI was pursuing when conducting their investigation.
The bottom line, he says, is that according to the evidence gathered during the numerous, in-depth, and expensive federal investigations into these issues, including the current investigation, neither U.S. law enforcement nor the intelligence community appeared to have any actual evidence of collusion in their possession at the start of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. He is stating that he has studied this for four years. He looked into a wide variety of subjects. Many errors were committed by the FBI.
After that, Perez read a statement from FBI Director Chris Wray claiming that the agency has already "made a lot of reforms" in response to Durham's criticism.
Perez cut in, "Confirmation bias is what Durham calls it," and Tapper said, "A lot of people who follow law enforcement might not be surprised that in general, sometimes there is an overzealousness and an effort to."
Tapper concurred, "Yeah, confirmation bias."
In response to a frequent accusation levelled about the FBI's Trump-Russia investigation, Perez clarified, "Not political prejudice.
The presidents and contenders for president aren't the only ones who experience it. You know, it happens to the little guy, too," Perez continued as Tapper spoke.
To the street's young men. They also don't receive four-year, multi-million dollar investigations that would clear them, Tapper added. Nevertheless, having accountability is a good thing, right?
Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), a former Republican congressman, was Tapper's next guest. "Let's start with how you felt about the Durham report. And at first glance, I mean, there's nothing, no criminality that he identified, but it's extremely devastating for the FBI," Tapper said Kinzinger.
You guys hit the nail on the head when you talked about confirmation bias, Kinzger affirmed, adding, "Yeah, it is. After all, 2016 has begun. As far as I can remember, this is the first presidential contender to have shown support for Vladimir Putin. Paul Manafort-related concerns were present.
You might recall that the Republican Party removed its support for Ukraine from its platform at the Republican National Convention. I therefore believe that many individuals are asking, "What's going on here?" With regard to the former president's continued sympathies for Vladimir Putin, my fellow party members and I had some serious reservations.
But the FBI's actions shouldn't be dictated by that. The FBI must prevent the realization of their biases, whether they be against that or something else. And perhaps, the independent counsel's report will bring about change at the FBI. Hopefully, some of this has already been done.
