Several members of the Republican Party have launched strong criticism against the FBI following the release of John Durham's report on the investigation into possible collusion between Russia and Donald Trump during the 2016 election.
This Monday, the special prosecutor shared the results of an investigation he had been conducting for years. The report revealed the FBI's "serious lack of analytical rigor" in handling the original investigation against the former president. This led several Republicans to point fingers at the agency and call for accountability.
As expected, Donald Trump was one of the first to react. The former president said that both the FBI and the Democrats should pay a "heavy price" for the "grave" national security implications of what they did.
Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis also didn't remain silent and mentioned the "need to clean" these agencies. "The Durham Report confirmed what we already knew: weaponized federal agencies manufactured a false conspiracy theory about Trump-Russia collusion," he commented.
Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy spoke of the importance of "eradicating corruption" and the possibility of shutting down the FBI, assuring that this could be achieved due to the number of authorities in the country. "At the local level, we have police and prosecutors. At the federal level, we have U.S. marshals and the DOJ," he said.
The Durham Report is a scathing indictment of the FBI & my proposal to shut it down is pragmatic: just as local prosecutors don’t require a separate investigative agency to work with local police, neither should the DOJ require an FBI to work with U.S. Marshals. Bureaucracy is a… https://t.co/7reu9jj0d7
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) May 15, 2023
Andy Biggs, the Republican representative from Arizona, has a similar perspective, writing that the FBI should be dismantled and defunded.
"The DOJ and FBI were actively working against him (Trump) and the will of the people," wrote Florida Republican Rep. Byron Donaldson.
As a result of ELECTION INTERFERENCE by @HillaryClinton and the @DNC in the 2016 election, President Trump faced 4+ years of relentless investigations and narratives BASED ON A LIE. The DOJ and FBI were actively working AGAINST him and the will of THE PEOPLE. Trump was right. pic.twitter.com/qHyFDVRFTQ
— Byron Donalds (@ByronDonalds) May 15, 2023
Illinois Congresswoman Mary Miller said this new report confirms that the FBI investigation against Trump was a political "witch hunt" against the former president.
Another Republican who spoke out was Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley. "The baseless and politically motivated Russia collusion lie robbed the American people of three years and tens of millions in taxpayer dollars," he said, highlighting that the Durham investigation revealed that "at best" the FBI consciously shirked its duty.
"Where are the Democrat voices on the Durham report?" asked Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the UN and current presidential candidate. "They need to get loud on this. If it's only Republicans who care when a Republican is targeted, then we're in a world of hurt as a country," she continued.
Jim Jordan calls Durham to testify
Following the report's release, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said he has already contacted the Justice Department to have special prosecutor John Durham testify before the committee next week.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) May 16, 2023
