Monday on FNC’s “The Ingraham Angle,” host Laura Ingraham called the findings of the Durham probe into the investigation of Donald Trump and alleged Russian collusion to be “arguable” worse than the Watergate scandal that plagued former President Richard Nixon.
Partial transcript as follows:
INGRAHAM: The Russia collusion investigation meant to derail Trump’s 2016 campaign was a complete and total sham. Now, today’s special counsel John Durham’s conclusions weren’t that brutal and matter of fact, but his 306 page report was blunt and damning. Now, after reading through as much of the report as I could stomach tonight, I was disgusted and I was so sick all over again by what they did to Donald Trump, what they did to Carter Page and so many others along the way. Now, we see in black and white in facts presented what was obvious and pervasive corruption. Now, there was clear political bias at work. Durham calls that confirmation bias, in the most powerful agencies within our federal government, intelligence and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Now, Hillary Clinton, we know she skated despite destroying evidence, but Donald Trump, he was tormented over nothing. And this began, never forget, when Obama was still in power. Now, here is a tidbit on the Steele dossier, which the FBI never corroborated, in footnote, I love the footnotes, 39. “Our investigators uncovered little evidence suggesting that, prior to the submission of the first Carter Page FISA application, the FBI had made any serious attempts to identify Steele’s primary sub-source other than asking Steele to disclose the identities of his sources.”
Now, further on page 13, regarding the sub-source Igor Danchenko. “Danchenko was unable to provide any corroborating evidence to support the Steele allegations and further, described his interactions with his sub- sources,” this is my favorite, “rumor and speculation. Moreover, notwithstanding the repeated assertions in the Carter Page FISA applications that Steele’s primary sub-sources is Danchenko, was based in Russia. Don’t shake up for many years. I’ve lived in Washington D.C. But, the FBI never corrected this assertion in three subsequent page FISA renewal applications. Rather beginning in March 2017, the FBI engaged on Danchenko as a confidential human source, and then began making regular financial payments to him for information, none of which corroborated Steele’s reporting. At least on Danchenko had a job.
Now, this was a rotten operation from the get go. This speed and manner in which the FBI opened and investigated crossfire hurricane during the presidential election season, based on raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence, also reflected a noticeable departure from how it approached prior matters involving possible attempted foreign intelligence interference plans aimed at the Clinton campaign. You think?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER UNITES STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: I do think. I could have and should have done a better job answering questions earlier. I really didn’t perhaps appreciate the need to do that. What I had done was allowed. It was above board. It was totally above board. Everybody in the government I communicated with, and that was a lot of people, knew I was using a personal email.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Destroy those blackberries with hammers. Throughout this report, then FBI Director Andrew McCabe and Deputy Assistant Director for Counter intel Peter Strzok, came off as pursuing Trump with a blind zeal, in particular, at the direction of McCabe, Strzok opened crossfire hurricane immediately. Strzok, at a minimum, had pronounced hostile feelings toward Trump. The matter was opened as a full investigation without ever having spoken to the persons who provided the information.
Now, after this conclusion by Durham, everybody watching tonight has to know that it is important to remember how Andrew McCabe described feeling right after Comey was fired. So sad. This was at his first meeting with President Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: I was speaking to the man who had just run for the presidency, and won the election for the presidency, and who might have done so with the aid of the government of Russia, our most formidable adversary on the world stage, and that was something that troubled me greatly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Troubled me greatly. Pity me of masculinity there. Now, completely absurd, remember, he knows they never corroborated the dossier. Now, more from Durham. “FBI records prepared by Strzok struck in February and March 2017 show that at the time of the opening of Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI had no information in its holdings indicating that any time during the campaign anyone in the Trump campaign had been in contact with any Russian Intel officials. Now, despite the damning portrayal, Strzok, he is still spinning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER STRZOK, FORMER FBI AGENT: This is a predictable, sad ending to an investigation that never should have taken place. What we have here is John Durham, a U.S. Attorney, taking a role traditionally reserved for criminal prosecutions, and essentially writing a four-year editorial for what he and Bill Barr thought that Donald Trump wanted to hear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Oh, does that mean he just wants to turn the page? What a fraud. Now, this was rank abuse, abuse of office and a vindictive, improper, politically motivated use of federal resources. Yet, Durham’s conclusion was only that the FBI failed to uphold their important mission of strict fidelity to the law. Yes. It is outrageous that this happened. It is arguably worse than Watergate when you look all the facts, but the truth is, no one is going to do anything about it. Now, how do we know this? Well, I’d say look no further than how the press is treating the Biden family money train.
Now, this last week, right, Congressman Jim Comer put out all that documentation, all the bank records, showing money from foreign sources to members of the Biden family. What did the media do? Yawn. Question, how did the Biden’s get so rich? Good to ask it every night until the election. The press isn’t interested in finding the answer to that very simple question, are they? Now, the standard going forward after everything that’s happened, it cannot be that the government can use its power to try to help liberal candidates for office avoid prosecution and accountability, as it relentlessly hounds conservatives on spurious and totally made-up grounds, all the while, of course, accusing the target of lying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: So another day of Hillary Clinton’s emails and the Steele dossier. This while the President of the United States is lying about the FBI, attacking the FBI and attacking the rule of law in this country. How does that make any sense at all?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: The rule of law. That guy should have won the Emmy Best Actress in a dramatic series. Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to say actress.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COMEY: The FBI is an honest, apolitical organization. I hope people will stare at that and learn about what the FBI is like, human and flawed, but deeply committed to trying to do the right thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Trying to do the right thing. What a prevaricating Prigge? That’s not what Durham concluded, but the political class terrified of a bold populace like Trump in office, they did everything they could to corroborate the FBI, instead of act as a legislative check on it, a check on its overreach. One word, shiftless.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): There is direct evidence in the emails from the Russians through their intermediary, offering dirt on Hillary Clinton as part of what is described in writing as the Russian government effort to help elect Donald Trump. There is significant evidence, much of it in the public domain on the issue of collusion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: And the Intel community chiefs, with their own reputations at stake, they circled the wagons and kept the farcical defamatory story going.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES CLAPPER, FORMER DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: I will tell you that my dashboard warning light was clearly on, and I think that was the case with all of us in the intelligence community, very concerned about the nature of these approaches to the Russians. If you put that in context with everything else we knew the Russians were doing to interfere with the election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: His dashboard warning light was on because they were about to be discovered. Now, additionally, there were no nefarious approaches to the Russians by Trump’s campaign. And number two, if the Russians were interfering in the election, the evidence suggests that they were trying to help Hillary via the phony Steele dossier. Powerful forces in Washington, powerful forces in abroad were hell bent on destroying Donald Trump’s political career before it really began. These are the same forces who claimed to this day to be the great defenders of democracy, but the truth all along was that they were the real threats to democracy. They wanted to keep power by any means necessary, and they also wanted to send a message to anyone like Donald Trump, anyone like him who comes along. Beware.
Ron DeSantis might think about this tonight, because they will come for him too, in some way, shape or form. I promise you that. You know why? They’re going to do it because there are no repercussions. This is also why Democrats will never let go of January 6, because that’s another pretext for weaponizing the federal government against the people. We all know there is next to no chance that a group of, what, 500 right wingers is going to take down the entire U.S. government. And yet, we also know that there is a real possibility that in 2024 various government agencies will try to undermine our election process to ensure only the acceptable people get elected.
This is why today there is really not a lot of trust in public institutions, and that’s really sad. Aside from election interference via fake investigations, look at what the government has done. They destroyed our energy independence. They’ve allowed millions of foreigners to come here on phony asylum claims. This isn’t a government we have right now, because they’ve embarrassed us. They act embarrassed of us on the world stage. No one is going to cut their funding on Capitol Hill. No one is going to lose their cushy post government jobs. In fact, they’ll probably get promotions in academia and in the media, because they did what they did.
The establishment always protects and promotes its heroes. The fact is, you’re not going to beat the establishment in court, sorry to report you. But, you have to beat them at the polls. If not, we should expect more of the same, a government that acts more like an occupying force that cavalierly abuses the public trust whenever it senses strong opposition.
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor