Government

John Durham Curbstomped By House Dems, But It's Okay Because Jesus And His Mom Say He's Cool

That mustache is looking kinda twitchy today.

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House Judiciary Committee Hears Testimony From Special Counsel John Durham

(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“My concern about my reputation is with the people who I respect, and my family, and my Lord. And I’m perfectly comfortable with my reputation with them, sir,” former special counsel John Durham huffed this morning under questioning by Rep. Steve Cohen, a Tennessee Democrat.

Durham was appointed by Attorney General Bill Barr in 2019 to investigate the origins of the FBI’s 2016 Russia inquiry and lock up all the Deep State evildoers who tried to frame poor, innocent Donald Trump. Four years and $6.5 million of taxpayer money later, all he had to show for it was one false statements plea by a line attorney, whose crime was ferreted out by Inspector General Michael Horowitz, and swift acquittals in the only two cases he brought to trial. Durham concluded his efforts with a 316-page report full of unsubstantiated allegations of skullduggery by the Clinton campaign and FBI bias, but without making any substantive recommendations on how the DOJ should change its policies.

In an attempt to squeeze a drop or two of political juice out of Durham’s dud of an investigation, House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan invited him to testify publicly. And so it was that Durham spent this morning getting ritually pantsed by the committee’s Democrats, who pointed out over and over again that he’d failed utterly to prove his point.

Here’s Ranking Member Jerry Nadler reminding Durham that he spent four years and, unlike Mueller, whose investigation he was hired to undermine, came up with bupkiss.

Goofus tries and fails to convict Danchenko and Sussmann. Gallant secures convictions or pleas from Manafort, Gates, Stone, Flynn, and Papadopoulos. 

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Here’s Rep. Hank Johnson reminding Durham that actually what counts is not the grand jury indictments but the trial jury’s acquittals.

But Durham’s encounter with Rep. Adam Schiff, himself a former prosecutor, really seemed to tweak his mustache.

Just to be clear, Durham’s big reveal was that, in his opinion, the Crossfire Hurricane investigation should have been opened as a pre-investigation, or a baby investigation, or maybe a mild query. He pooh poohs the fact that it was opened after Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos bragged to Australian diplomat Alexander Downer that the Russians were going to help Trump’s campaign by releasing hacked information about Hillary Clinton. Which they then did. In this exchange, Durham purports to be unsure whether this actually happened, despite the ample evidence laid out in the Mueller Report and findings by the Senate Intelligence Committee confirming just that.

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And in a bonus round, Rep. Eric Swalwell commends Durham for refusing to “join the law firm of Insurrection LLC, which is incidentally and probably appropriately chaired by a guy who never passed the bar exam.”

This would appear to be a reference to Jim Jordan, who graduated from law school, but never did sit for the bar. Jordan paid Swalwell back by refusing to strike from the record a false allegation that Swalwell had an affair with a Chinese spy.

This afternoon, the fun continues. Perhaps Matt Gaetz (who did pass the bar!) will be able to salvage this shitshow when it’s his turn to question the witness. Or … maybe not.

Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics and appears on the Opening Arguments podcast.

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