Republican lawmakers demanded “consequences” and argued the FBI was “weaponized” against Donald Trump in the wake of findings by special counsel John Durham’s probe that the bureau lacked evidence to launch a “seriously flawed” investigation into the former president’s alleged collusion with Russia in 2016.
The 76-year-old former president himself called the evidence in Durham’s report, released on Monday, proof that “the American Public was scammed” when the FBI opened an investigation into his campaign over since debunked allegations that it was colluding with Russia.
“WOW! After extensive research, Special Counsel John Durham concludes the FBI never should have launched the Trump-Russia Probe! In other words, the American Public was scammed, just as it is being scammed right now by those who don’t want to see GREATNESS for AMERICA!“ Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Monday.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said the report revealed “that Obama’s FBI had zero actual evidence of collusion when they kicked off the political witch hunt of Donald Trump.”
“We have said this all along. Now there must be consequences,” Scalise wrote on Twitter.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) echoed Scalise, vowing to hold those responsible for the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation, code-named Crossfire Hurricane, “accountable.”
“The long-awaited Durham Report confirmed what the American people already know; that individuals at the highest levels of government attempted to overthrow democracy when they illegally weaponized the federal government against Donald J. Trump,” Stefanik said in a statement.
“This criminal abuse of power went all the way up to the Oval Office where President Obama and then Vice-President Joe Biden were in on it from the very beginning. This was an unlawful attempt by the politicized FBI and DOJ to meddle in our elections.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) went a step further, posting on Twitter that the FBI should be defunded and dismantled following the release of Durham’s findings.
“John Durham concluded that ‘neither U.S. nor the Intelligence Community appears to have possessed any actual evidence of collusion … This is what weaponized govt. looks like and why I seek to defund the FBI/DOJ. Imagine what else they are doing too,” Biggs tweeted.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) wrote on Twitter that the “gravity of the misconduct uncovered by Mr. Durham cannot be overstated.”
Lee argued that at the very least Durham found “a malicious use of federal law-enforcement officers to conduct a contrived investigation utterly lacking any valid, factual foundation from the very beginning.”
“That is itself incredibly troubling—and also unconstitutional,” Lee added. “But this was SO MUCH WORSE than that. It was an effort to use use a powerful, long-respected, federal law-enforcement agency to render a presidential candidate unelectable — entirely in the absence of any valid, good-faith basis for doing so.”
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said Monday that he has invited Durham to testify before his panel next week to further discuss his findings.
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