House Judiciary Committee Oversight Hearing Opening Statement — page 1

Opening Statement for House Judiciary Committee

John H. Durham, Special Counsel

(June 21, 2023 open session)

Good morning, Chairman Jordan, Ranking Member Nadler, and members of the

Committee.

As the Committee knows, on May 13, 2019, Attorney General Barr directed me to

conduct a preliminary review into certain matters related to federal investigations

concerning the 2016 presidential election campaigns.

That review subsequently developed into several criminal investigations and gave

rise to my appointment as Special Counsel.

Many of the most significant issues documented in the report, including those

relating to lack of investigative discipline, failure to take logical investigative steps,

and bias, are relevant to important national security interests. If repeated or left

unaddressed, these issues could result in significant national security risks and

further erode public faith in our justice system.

As we said in the report, our findings were sobering. While I am encouraged by

some of the reforms that have been implemented by the FBI, the problems

identified in the report are not susceptible to overnight fixes. As we said in the

report, they cannot be addressed solely with enhanced training or additional policy

requirements. Rather, what is required is accountability—both in terms of the

standards to which our law enforcement personnel hold themselves, and in the

consequences they face for violations of law or policy.

I am here to answer your questions to the best of my ability, and I hope to be of

service to your oversight function. As I’m sure you know, the Department of Justice

has advised me of what I am authorized to discuss here. In this regard, I will rely

mostly on the report itself.

I do want to emphasize a few points at the outset:

First, I want to emphasize in the strongest terms that my colleagues and I carried

out our work in good faith, with integrity, in the spirit of following the facts

wherever they lead, without fear or favor. At no time, and in no sense, did we act

with a purpose to further partisan or political ends.

Second, the findings set forth in this report are serious and deserve attention from

the American public and its representatives. Let me just briefly highlight a few.

For one, we found troubling violations of law and policy in the conduct of highly

consequential investigations directed at members of a presidential campaign and,

ultimately, a presidential administration.

House Judiciary Committee Oversight Hearing Opening Statement — page 2

Our team comprised dedicated and experienced prosecutors and law enforcement

agents who worked day in and day out on DOJ and FBI investigations—including

national security matters. That such a group made these findings should be of

concern to any American who cares about civil liberties, the rule of law, and the just

and proportionate application of the law.

•

During our investigation, we charged a former FBI lawyer who pleaded guilty

to the felony offense of altering and fabricating a portion of a document used

to obtain court renewal of FISA surveillance of Carter Page.

•

Several of the relevant FISA applications omitted reference to relevant

exculpatory information that should have been disclosed to the FISC.

•

Multiple FBI personnel who signed or assisted in preparing renewal

applications for that same FISA warrant acknowledged that they did not

believe that the target was a threat to national security, much less a

knowing

agent of a foreign power. It appears that FBI leadership dismissed those

concerns.

Another aspect of our findings concerned the FBI’s failure to sufficiently scrutinize

information it received or to apply the same standards to allegations it received

about the Clinton and Trump campaigns.

•

As our report details, the FBI was too willing to accept and use politically

funded and uncorroborated opposition research like the Steele Dossier.

•

The FBI relied on the dossier in FISA warrant applications knowing that

it likely originated from the Clinton campaign. It did so even after the

President of the United States, the FBI and CIA Directors, and others

received briefings about intelligence suggesting that there was a Clinton

campaign plan under way to stir up a scandal tying Trump to Russia. The

accuracy of the intelligence was uncertain, but the FBI failed to analyze or

assess the implications of this intelligence in any meaningful way.

•

When the FBI learned that the primary source of information for the

Steele dossier, Igor Danchenko, whom the FBI previously suspected of

being a Russian spy, it nevertheless signed him up as a paid FBI

informant without further investigating, to say nothing of resolving these

espionage concerns.

•

And when the FBI and Special Counsel Mueller’s Office learned that

Steele’s primary source likely had gathered important portions of the

dossier information during travel to Russia with Charles Dolan, it

inexplicably decided not to interview Mr. Dolan or investigate his

activities.

House Judiciary Committee Oversight Hearing Opening Statement — page 3

Finally, I would like to add that although our work exposed deeply concerning facts

about the conduct of these investigations, our report should not be read to suggest

that Russian election interference was not a significant threat. It was. Nor should

it be read to suggest that the investigative authorities at issue no longer serve

important law enforcement and national security interests. They do.

Rather, responsibility for the failures and transgressions that occurred here rest

with the people who committed them or allowed them to occur. Again, to my mind,

the issues raised in the report deserve close attention from the American people and

their elected representatives here in Washington.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman

House Judiciary Committee Oversight Hearing Opening Statement

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