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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.
