Special Counsel John Durham directly refuted claims by Democratic Congressmen that there was evidence former President Donald Trump colluded with Russia during the 2016 election, according to his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
Durham was asked by Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley of California about accusations made by Democratic Reps. Jerry Nadler of New York as well as Ted Lieu, Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff of California regarding Trumpâs conduct both during the hearing and in the past on the record. He quoted statements made by the members and asked Mr. Durham to respond as to whether or not they were supported by the facts of the Mueller report, which he said they werenât.
âSeveral people todayâŚhave attacked you. Mr. Nadler called your report a political exercise with ethical ambiguity. Mr. Lieu called you a partisan hack. It seems as though they are taking issueâŚwith the conclusions of Mr. Muellerâs report, whichâŚcontradicted the statements made by those individuals on the record,â Kiley said, before asking Durham about whether Schiffâs statement regarding the evidence of collusion was accurate.
âMr. Schiff made statements such as âThe Russians offered help. The campaign accepted help. The Russians gave help and the president made full use of that help. That is pretty damning.â He also said that there was âplenty of evidence of collusion in plain sightâŚAre those statements supported by the report?,â asked Kiley, referring to the Mueller report. âI donât believe so,â Durham responded.
Kiley then quoted a statement by Nadler, that âthe campaign colluded and thereâs clear evidence that the president was involved. There was obviously a lot of collusion.â Durham replied that it was not supported by the facts of the Mueller report.
Following Nadler, Kiley referred to a statement by Lieu, who said that âthe bombshell revelation that suggests that Trump associates may have colluded with the Russians means that we must pause the entire Trump agenda. We may have an illegitimate president occupying the White House.â
Durham told the committee that the Mueller report âdid notâ support Lieuâs claim. He also dismissed the claim made by Swalwell that there was âstrong evidence of collusionâ between Trump and Russia.
Nadler, Schiff, Swalwell and Lieu all serve on the House Judiciary Committee, with Nadler and Schiff having been physically present to hear their claims rebutted. During Kileyâs questioning, Schiff repeatedly asked âWould the gentleman yield?â to Kiley, for time to clarify his remarks, but Kiley refused to yield.
Durham appeared before the Judiciary Committee to testify about the conclusions of his report on his investigation into the origins of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation of Donald Trumpâs campaign and its contacts with Russia during the 2016 election. The investigation of Trump produced no evidence that he had cooperated with Russia to win the election, and Durhamâs investigation concluded that the FBI had acted without âstrict fidelity to the lawâ in opening its investigation of Trump.
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All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporterâs byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].