Sen. Dan Sullivan joined 43 other Republican senators on Thursday in signing a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, asking for an update on Special Counsel John Durham’s report on an FBI investigation into a wide variety of claims about Russian collusion in the 2016 presidential election.
Durham was tasked two years ago to review the origins of the Robert Mueller investigation, which focused on President Donald Trump and his supposed ties to Russia. Durham was appointed special counsel in October 2020 to continue his work with greater independence.
Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election ended in 2019, after finding no evidence that Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia. That’s when Trump appointed Durham to dig into how the “Russia collusion claims,” got started; they have since been strongly linked to the Hillary Clinton campaign.
“The Special Counsel’s ongoing work is important to many Americans who were disturbed that government agents subverted lawful process to conduct inappropriate surveillance for political purposes. The truth pursued by this investigation is necessary to ensure transparency in our intelligence agencies and restore faith in our civil liberties. Thus, it is essential that the Special Counsel’s ongoing review should be allowed to continue unimpeded and without undue limitations,” the senators’ letter stated. “To that end, we ask that you provide an update on the status of Special Counsel Durham’s inquiry and that the investigation’s report be made available to the public upon completion.”
A report in The Wall Street Journal said Durham has uncovered evidence against FBI agents and possibly others who used false information or tips at the start of the Russia investigation in 2016 and has been presenting evidence to a grand jury.
“Those ‘others’ could include a virtual who’s who of Washington politics, and even if they are not indicted, Durham could implicate some of the most powerful figures in politics in his final report,” wrote Jonathan Turley, professor of public interest law at George Washington University.
“Even for those of us who followed and wrote on the Russia investigation for five years, much has been revealed in the last year,” Turley wrote in The Hill last week.
“It was disclosed in October, for instance, that President Obama was briefed by his CIA director, John Brennan, on July 28, 2016, on intelligence suggesting that Hillary Clinton planned to tie then-candidate Donald Trump to Russia as ‘a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server.’ The date was significant because the Russia investigation was initiated July 31, 2016, just three days later,” Turley wrote.
“Throughout the campaign, the Clinton campaign denied any involvement in the creation of the so-called Steele dossier’s allegations of Trump-Russia connections. However, weeks after the election, journalists discovered that the Clinton campaign hid payments for the dossier made to a research firm, Fusion GPS, as ‘legal fees’ among the $5.6 million paid to the campaign’s law firm. New York Times reporter Ken Vogel said at the time that Clinton lawyer Marc Elias, with the law firm of Perkins Coie, denied involvement in the anti-Trump dossier. When Vogel tried to report the story, he said, Elias ‘pushed back vigorously, saying ‘You (or your sources) are wrong.’”
According to The Washington Post, however, Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee funded research that resulted in the very dossier filled with allegations about President Trump’s connections to Russia and alleged coordination between his campaign and the Kremlin.
Clinton campaign lawyer Marc Elias and the DNC, retained Fusion GPS, a notorious Washington opposition research firm, to conduct the research.
Read the 2017 interview with Marc Elias
Fusion GPS hired former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who was well known to the intelligence community, to complete the damning dossier.
Later, Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta was grilled by Congress over the campaign’s contractual agreement with Fusion GPS. He denied having any knowledge of it, as Clinton’s campaign attorney Elias sat by his side to ensure he did not go off-message.
Steele was part of the campaign to sway the media, shopping the dossier to any reporter who would use it before the election.
Turley also reported about meetings between Steele and members of the Justice Department, including senior Justice official Bruce Ohr, whose wife Nellie Ohr worked for Fusion GPS as a researcher attempting to connect Trump to Russia.
The liberal Brookings Institution was also involved, Turley said, with Igor Danchenko, an analyst from the Washington think tank, being used as a source for Russian disinformation.
Then there’s the Alpha Bank conspiracy theory.
“Durham also is reportedly looking into information concerning Alfa Bank, a privately owned commercial bank in Russia. That information led to possible access to the Trump campaign server. The Alfa Bank controversy is likely to make a number of powerful people particularly uneasy. Clinton campaign-linked figures such as Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson allegedly pushed the debunked claim that the Trump campaign had a server linked directly to the bank, which in turn was linked to Vladimir Putin and his cronies. The Alfa Bank conspiracy reportedly was pitched to the Justice Department, including in contacts with Bruce Ohr,” Turley wrote.
The Washington establishment, which has a legacy of protecting powerful Democrats, wants the Durham report buried.
Thus, the letter from 44 members of the U.S. Senate asking for an update and reminding Durham that they have not stopped following the matter, is timed for a reason: It was sent as word spreads that the investigation may be coming to a close.
Anybody want to guess what republican senator didn’t sign it?
Ahhh, Danny?
While this is an important issue, currently there are much bigger issues demanding your attention.
There are as many as 10,000 citizens virtual hostages in Afghanistan. Gramma Sniffy is mentally deficient and is about to bumble us into a war.
Do something useful for a change. You like to remind us you served and all that implies. Act like it for once.
Swampy is trying to give the Cowardly Lion a run for his money as useless
It is not a surprise that an Alaska Republican U.S. Senator’s name is missing.
The letter wasn’t “strongly worded” enough to get any attention. What a pathetic performance from the GOP “opposition”.
Marco Rubio was probably on the letter too, the “conservative” on the SSCI.
These weasels in Washington knew all along the depth of corruption. If there is ever a report released, it will be so heavily redacted as to be useless. No one will ever be held accountable.
The combined intelligence agencies are the informal and dominant 4th branch of government.
The “R” by a politicians’ name stands for “Rollover”, and the “D” for “Dominant”.
Brian Simpson, I liked your explanation of the hidden meaning of “R” and “D “. I too have long believed that we have a two party system in the U.S., the Stupid Party and the Evil Party, with the Republicans being the Stupid Party. As an example, the Stupid Party discovers evidence of illegal activities, (crimes) committed by members of a governmental agency, ( deep state) against their party or candidate, gets mad as hell, makes sure that it is investigated… by another governmental agency, and then after years of stonewalling of the investigation by deep state actors within the investigating agency the Stupid Party politely asks for an “update” of a report. Evidently the leaders of the Stupid Party must be secure in knowing that the average Republican is stupid. I mean to say that this is all window dressing by these Senators making their Stupid party members believe that they are relevant and working to combat deep state corruption. In the end however such tactics will be fruitless, except for keeping their Stupid Party Members pacified. What did Einstein say about the definition of insanity? Something about electing and sending the same kind of people to congress and expecting a different result? BTW, I am a Stoopid Party Member, A big fat R is on my voters registration card. Perhaps we should found an organization similar to Alcoholics Anonymous for our fellow party members so we can at least come to grips with our problem and seek new alternatives? I’m up first.. Hello , I am Robert, I am a Republican and I supported Dan Sullivan!
Hi, I am an American Patriot… Registered DEM (Lord have mercy… you know back in the Kennedy era a Democrat meant something different then today.) HOWEVER, I’ve voted Republican the last 3 elections. We know the 2020 election was stolen. Focus on the AZ Election Forensic Audit Report. Tick tok
Gosh, so brave. I hope he’s safe.
Our entire congressional delegation has all the backbone of a jellyfish.
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Well, maybe not Sockeye Lisa — I have to say that she does know how to consistently stand up, but for all the wrong things and for all the wrong reasons.
Dan you flip flop more than a Fish out of Water! Your trust with me is gone and like Murkowski you both are Deep State and should never be Re-elected again.
If we end up adding 6T to the debt, the country will rightly want an explanation from 19 Republican (?) senators, who could have stopped it, but didn’t…for whatever reasons..they had…
Such ire from the trolls! Nothing Senator Sullivan does or does not do will ever please them. I juist wish they would take out their shadenfreude on the commies that are controlling Anchorage and trying to expand to the rest of Alaska. Back to the subject at hand… The letter is well done and timely, but will get no result – because hiden & company want it buried, as does the hillary. Anyone understand what arkancide is? The implied threat of such may be at play here. Demrats don’t play by the same rules we do.
No, no big surprise to see Ms. Murkowski’s signature missing. This update must be demanded immediately, not politely requested at the earliest convenience. The future of the Republic could rest on the forthcoming report, although the actual insurgence is well underway.
Durham is a straight shooter, would not be surprised if this boomerangs on the Republicans
Hmm. Something has changed. Ever so slightly.
Murkowski did not sign it. It figures. She is WORTHLESS.
Andrew Troy, credit Daddies Little Princess with at least being consistent in her irrational hatred of all things Trump. I mean do you think Lisa darling wants this kind of thing attached to her? Why she might get shunned in D.C. and possibly lose large donations for her reelection from outside sources if she signed such an affronting document. Illegal activities like weaponizing Spy Agencies against ones political opponent is a good and a useful tool when it comes to combatting the likes of Trump. You need to enlarge your thinking here.
It really is a race to see who can throw away the most good will: Swampy Dan or the Cowardly Lion governor.
If there is anything more useless than the Alaska GOP, I’ve not seen it.
At this point, what difference does it make? Why can’t we all just moveon.org?
Scotland has Trump in court to find out where he came up with the cash to buy two golf courses, Trump never uses his own money. There are strong indications Russians funded Trump, no wonders Putin is his pal.
Ah yes, the “Russian Collusion Delusion”, an oldie but a goodie!
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Frank, if your Trump Derangement Syndrome lasts for four or more years, seek medical help immediately.
Lisa cannot sign such a letter as she has been doing every thing she can to cover the report up as she was totally compliant with the get Trump at any cost faction
Far eastern nations have not been very friendly lately, the monarchical threat remains too. Everyone wants our resources and have taken steps to influence American elections. Hope that is in the report.
Bravo: I see your point. I mean those same weaponized spy agencies would never take part in illegal activities against regular American citizens, like setting up an international global network to fix elections in the middle of the night, or start a ruccus at the capitol in order to prevent a true Constitutional exercise of the electoral college duty and then blame it on someone else, or con the whole world into participating in the greatest medical experiment in human history. I just like to dis Murkowski whenever I get a chance. Is that irrational?
You must live in an alternate reality with the pillow guy
Your childlike naivete is touching but woefully embarrassing, Frank.
Embarrassing for you, that is.
Grow up.
Sullivan’s offering is too little, too late. He signed his rino ideals with Murkowski when they passed that monstrosity “infrastructure” (what a crock) bill. I am done with him. Time for another primarying to take place. I am looking and talking to others of the same persuasion.
Great job, Dan! Really on top of things and we should all feel safer now.
When will you and the other spineless RINOs start demanding a full accounting of the 2020 election?
Oh, that’s right…that was all on the up and up and we need to move on especially after the insurrection where Military Dan and the rest almost died…haha…hiding in the cloakroom probably saved him.
We need to get Officer Dan out of that senate seat and get a good NCO in there…there’s a reason why good military officers STFU and let the real leaders, the noncommissioned officers, run the military while the officers strut and preen and try to impress each other.
I’m getting mixed signals here. Sullivan moves to force release of the findings that will reveal the corruption within the democrat party. But he just joined a minority of Republicans that went along with the democrats’ one TRILLION dollar “Infrastructure” bill that spends 5% on “infrastructure” and 95% on……. unspecified.
So what’s it going to be, Dan? Are you a Republican or aren’t you?
If you’re trying to be “nuanced” it’s not working. Paint in bold strokes. Earn my vote.
The Allies in WWII – the U.S., U.K., Russia and France – who didn’t always agree on things – managed to do the investigation and indictments of Nazi criminals and launch the Nuremberg Trials, history’s greatest trial – WITHIN 6 MONTHS OF THE END OF THE WAR.
A second year law student could have by now convicted the perpetrators of the Russia-Russia witch hunt on the information publicly available when Durham was handed the case. Never, since 1776 have We, the People had more reason to take up our pitchforks and torches to clean out the rot in the swamp at all levels and in all parties.
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