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Gaetz SHREDS Durham: ‘It’s laughable!’ Hard to get to the truth ‘when you are part of the cover up…’

June 22, 2023 | | Print Article

Rep. Matt Gaetz slammed special counsel John Durham to his face Wednesday for not doing enough to hold Russia hoaxers accountable.

During a House Judiciary Committee hearing, the GOP lawmaker specifically accused Durham of not “really trying to expose the true core of the corruption” inherent in the Russian collusion delusion hoax and conspiracy theory.

Watch:

As an example, he noted how Durham had failed to interview several key players in the Russia hoax.

“You’ve given us testimony today that you’re disappointed that the FBI didn’t cooperate more, right. … So we’re disappointed too, but the difference is that when regular folks do things that are wrong and lawful, there’s typically greater effort to try to get those people before a grand jury,” he began.

“Bill Priestap, the guy who might have set this whole op in motion, he just didn’t want to talk to you about certain things, and you were real accommodating about that. And then Mifsud, the person who juices Papadopoulos to create this predicate that you find improper … I mean, did you even know where his lawyer was?” he added.

Durham said yes, prompting even more outrage from Gaetz.

“So you could find the guy’s lawyer, but you couldn’t find him? … Do you see how silly this looks? You’ve found the lawyer, you found the phones, but the actual dude who got ordered by Western intelligence to go start this thing you couldn’t find,” Gaetz said.

“It’s kind of laughable. It seems like more than disappointment. It seems like you weren’t really trying to expose the true core of the corruption that you were trying to. You were trying to go at it another way,” the GOP lawmaker continued.

“Yeah. As we said in the report, I said in my opening remarks, we pursued the facts as best we could,” Durham replied.

Gaetz did not appear to agree.

“How about this fact, Mr. Durham? The entire Mueller team does a hard reset on their Apple phone in synchronization to wipe away evidence. Did you investigate that? … Who gave the order on the Mueller team to wipe the phones?” he demanded.

“Yeah. That was not something that we were asked to look at and we didn’t,” Durham claimed in response.

“That’s not true, Mr. Durham. That is not true, because I am holding the document that authorizes your activity, and it specifically says the investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller,” Gaetz fired back.

The GOP lawmaker proceeded to ask two questions for which Durham had no answers: “What’s Azra Turk’s real name? Do you know that?” and “The FBI sends somebody to go honeypot George Papadopoulos — who gave the order to do that?”

“I think that’s beyond the scope of what’s in the report,” Durham said in response to the second question, triggering another outburst from Gaetz.

“It’s literally the scope of what your charging order is! Who put it in motion? We get after it was put in motion, the FBI did a bunch of wrong and corrupt things. Totally understand — we’re trying to deal with that. But when you are part of the cover-up, Mr. Durham, then it makes our job harder,” the lawmaker said.

“Yeah, well, if that’s your thought, I mean, there’s no way of dissuading you from that. I can tell you that it’s offensive, and that the people who worked on this investigation and spent their lives trying to protect people in this country and pursue, within the law, what it is that we are authorized to do …,” Durham tried replying before being cut off.

“You tried two cases, lost both of them, and then the one guilty plea you got, Clinesmith? Clinesmith is back to practicing law in Washington, D.C. today,” Gaetz said.

“That’s beyond my control,” Durham replied.

“Right, but the fact that you allowed that plea to occur, right? And then the punishment was insufficient. The fact that you didn’t charge Andrew McCabe, you didn’t convict the lyin’ Democrats or the lyin’ Russians, you didn’t investigate Mifsud or the Mueller probe, even though, as we sit here today in black letter, that was your charge,” Gaetz responded.

“Have you ever heard of the Washington Generals?” the Republican then asked.

“The Washington Generals? Yes,” Durham replied with confusion.

“And they’re the team that basically gets paid to show up and lose, right?” Gaetz pressed.

“I’m sure that the players who exert blood, sweat, and tears don’t view it that way, but you might,” Durham replied with a quick chuckle.

“I think they do. I think they do, because the job of the Washington Generals is to show up every night and to play the Harlem Globetrotters, and their job is to lose. … And I’m kind of wondering, and it just seems so facially obvious, that it’s not what’s in your report that’s telling, it’s the omission — it’s the lack of work you did,” Gaetz responded.

“And for the people, like the chairman, who put trust in you, I think you let them down, I think you let the country down, and you are one of the barriers to the true accountability that we need,” he added.

Durham wasn’t pleased by this rhetoric.

“Do I get to respond to that or comment on that? Well, I don’t know if you’ve ever investigated a crime …,” he said before being cut off.

“I don’t know that you have. You didn’t investigate these, Mr. Durham. How about Andy McCabe? Did you charge him? Did you investigate him?” Gaetz asked.

“I don’t know, sir, whether you’ve ever had occasion to try to investigate crimes under the rules and regulations, and under the Constitution that we’re bound by. We can gather evidence, in particularly lawful ways, but we can’t charge people, because we might think something …,”  Durham replied before being cut off again.

“It’s not just that you didn’t charge — it’s that you didn’t investigate. You didn’t investigate the Mueller team wiping their phones and you won’t tell us who gave the orders because you’re protecting those people!” Gaetz said, concluding the back-and-forth exchange.

Vivek Saxena
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