Special Counsel John H. Durham responded curtly Wednesday to Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), after the latter said that he had ruined his “reputation” by refusing to turn his investigation into a probe into Russia “collusion.”

Durham was testifying at the House Judiciary Committee about his recent report, which concluded that the Department of Justice never had evidence to justify the collusion investigation, which he said should not have happened. Democrats pushed back, and many claimed — contrary to the findings of two separate special counsel investigations — that there was, in fact, evidence to support the Russia collusion conspiracy theory.

Cohen pursued Durham, claiming that he should have included information from a grand jury report by then-Attorney General William Barr. (Barr is prevented by statute from revealing the grand jury proceedings.)

“You had a good reputation,” Cohen said in questioning Durham. “That’s why the two Democrats supported you. But the longer you hold on to Mr. Barr, and this report that Mr. Barr gave you as special counsel,  your reputation will be damaged, as everybody’s reputation who gets involved with Mr. Trump is damaged. He’s damaged goods. There’s no good dealing with him, because you will end up on the bottom of a pyre.”
Durham attempted to respond, but Cohen’s time had expired. He was the given an opportunity to respond by committee chair Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH). He declared:

“My concern about my reputation is with the people who I respect: my family, and my Lord, and I am perfectly comfortable with my reputation with them, Sir.”

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.