was investigating the f.b.i. for investigating putin s interference in the 2016 presidential election and then in april or may of 2019, attorney general barr appointed you to lead that investigation. isn t that correct? he did appoint me to lead the investigation, yes, sir. in october of 2020, attorney general barr appointed you as an independent special counsel so you could continue investigating the origins of the russia, russia, russia investigation once trump was out of office, correct? i have was appointed special counsel in october, yes. by that time your investigation had already cost the american taxpayers over $6 1/2 million, isn t that correct? at that point probably not, no. well, at this point how much
any agency or responsibility to donald trump for problems that are trump s and trump s alone. instead, republicans have planned this hearing and constructed an entire narrative around the work of special counsel durham in an effort to distract from the former president s legal troubles and mislead the american public. to be clear, the durham report is by itself a deeply flawed vessel. after four years, thousands of employee hours, and more than 6 1/2 million dollars in taxpayer dollars, special counsel durham failed to uncover any wrongdoing that justice department inspector general horowitz had not already found in 2019. he brought just two cases to trial and lost them both. both defendants were acquitted in mere hours. the single conviction of special counsel durham obtained involved a single charge of lying to the
has it cost? i understand the figure having looked at it is around 6 1/2 million. after 3 1/2 years of investigation and 6 1/2 million dollars ever taxpayer money spent, your investigation led to the indictment of only three individuals, correct? that s correct. contrary to the fervent prayers of some on this panel, former f.b.i. director jim comey and former c.i.a. director john brennan were not among those three who were indicted, isn t that correct? that s correct. to the extreme disappointment on some on this panel your investigation failed to produce indictments against hillary clinton, correct? that s correct. didn t indict barack obama? that s correct. or joe biden? that s correct. couldn t indict hunter biden? we didn t investigate mr.
correct, that he got 6 1/2 million impression, then by and large worked. and the fact that you and i are talking about it right now is probably another sign of it. in just the last 24 hours since announcing, desantis has taken on the former president in a more direct way, something he has been reductionluctant to do now. i don t know what happened to president trump. this is a different guy today than when he was running in 2015 and 2016. and i think the direction that he is going with his campaign is the wrong direction. it s interesting argument. he is not really criticizing what he did before. he just saying oh, he s changed. well, we ll have to see when he gets hit with the content. like mike tyson says, everybody has a plan until they re punched in the face. we have to see the counterpunching donald trump with those maneuvers. again, i think mr. desantis would be better served to explain listen, i was a good governor. i have a really good track
legally questionable plan. dana: mark meredith, keep us posted. bill: back to john durham special counsel releasing the blistering report on the origins of the trump/russia investigation. one of his biggest takeaways the f.b.i. probe was seriously flawed, had no basis to conduct it. here it is. an objective and honest assessment of these strands of information should have caused the f.b.i. to question not only the predication for crossfire hurricane but reflect whether or not the f.b.i. was being manipulated for political and other purposes. unfortunately it did not. lindsey graham, top republican is with me now. nice to see you. good morning to you. i will give you a moment here. i will read what dick durbin said. senate majority whip, democrat. donald trump predicted that special counsel durham would uncover the crime of the century. instead we were given a report that caused taxpayers more than 6 1/2 million to reit late the