During Wednesday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing on the “Report on Matters Related to Intelligence Activities and Investigations Arising Out of the 2016 Presidential Campaigns,” U.S. Congressman Matt Gaetz (FL-01) grilled Special Counsel John Durham regarding his failed investigation into corruption within the FBI and the Russia Hoax.
During his questions to Mr. Durham, Rep. Gaetz stated that he believes the Special Counsel is part of the cover-up and referenced Mr. Durham’s failure to indict Andrew McCabe, failure to locate Joseph Mifsud, and failure to investigate why Robert Mueller’s team wiped their phones.
Video of Rep. Gaetz’s interaction with Special Counsel John Durham at the House Judiciary Committee hearing can be found HERE and below. A rough transcript can also be found immediately below:
🔥 MUST WATCH: @RepMattGaetz GRILLS Special Counsel John Durham on His “Investigation” Into FBI Corruption & the Russia Hoax
"When you are part of the COVER-UP, Mr. Durham, then it makes our job harder.” pic.twitter.com/lLinJYQ6Mm
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) June 21, 2023
TRANSCRIPT
Rep. Gaetz: Yeah, I agree with Mr. Biggs, you’ve given us testimony today that you’re disappointed that the FBI didn’t cooperate more, right? That was your testimony?
Special Counsel Durham: Said that.
Rep. Gaetz: Yeah. So we’re disappointed too. But the difference is, when regular folks do things that are wrong and unlawful, there’s typically greater effort to try to get those people before a grand jury to utilize criminal process where appropriate, not not for other purposes. And it’s just like, oh, well, 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 to that. And then Mifsud, the person who juices Papadopoulos to create this predicate that you find improper, you guys. I mean, did you ever know who his lawyer was? Mifsud’s Lawyer?
Special Counsel Durham: Talked to his lawyer in Europe, not in, I don’t know him.
Rep. Gaetz: So you found the guy’s lawyer, but you couldn’t find him.
Special Counsel Durham: We contacted somebody that we knew had had representatived him and part of the effort to try to locate him.
Rep. Gaetz: And you got the lawyer. And then now you’re you’re sitting here in front of the Judiciary saying you could find the guy’s lawyer, but you couldn’t effectuate the service of a subpoena because you couldn’t find him? You know how silly that sounds.
Special Counsel Durham: And you may or may not know, we wouldn’t have the authority to serve a subpoena overseas. The lawyer didn’t know where Mifsud was, he was in communication with him, but he claimed not to know where he was. And we are trying to arrange an opportunity to talk to Mifsud.
Rep. Gaetz: Did you take possession of two Blackberry phones from Mifsud in any way?
Special Counsel Durham: There were phones that were provided to us by his lawyer.
Rep. Gaetz: So you can find the phone but not the guy.
Special Counsel Durham: What?
Rep. Gaetz: Do you see how silly this looks? You 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? It’s 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 in another way.
Special Counsel Durham: Yeah, as we said in the report, and as I said in my opening remarks, we pursued the facts as best we could.
Rep. Gaetz: How about this? 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?
Special Counsel Durham: I read that.
Rep. Gaetz: Why didn’t. Did you investigate it? Who gave the order on the Mueller team to wipe the phones?
Special Counsel Durham: Yeah, that was not something that we were asked to look at. And we didn’t know.
Rep. Gaetz: That’s not true, Mr. Durham. That is not true, because I’m holding the document that authorizes your activity and it specifically says the investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. It’s imperative. Mr. Chairman, I seek unanimous consent to enter into the record the order that says that you’re supposed to investigate these things. And so like whether it’s the Mueller team, Mifsud. How about Azra Turk? Azra Turk. What’s Azra Turk’s real name? Do you know that?
Special Counsel Durham: I’m not going to be disclosing the names of FBI personnel that are otherwise unavailable.
Rep. Gaetz: But an FBI. So the FBI sent somebody to go honeypot George Papadopoulos. Who gave the order to do that?
Special Counsel Durham: I think that’s beyond the scope of what’s in the reports.
Rep. Gaetz: Literally, the scope of what you’re 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.
Special Counsel Durham: 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 have spent their lives trying to protect people in this country and pursue within the law. What it is we are authorized to do.
Rep. Gaetz: You tried two cases, lost both of them and then the one plead, guilty plea, you got Clinesmith. Clinesmith is back to practicing law in Washington, DC, today.
Special Counsel Durham: That’s beyond my control.
Rep. Gaetz: Right, but the the fact that you allowed that play to occur, right? And then the punishment was insufficient. The fact that you didn’t you didn’t charge Andrew McCabe. You didn’t convict the lie on Democrats or the lie on Russians. You didn’t investigate Mifsud or the Mueller probe even though as we sit here today in black letter that was your charge? Have you ever heard of the Washington Generals.
Special Counsel Durham: The Washington Generals? Yes.
Rep. Gaetz: Yeah. And they’re the team that basically gets paid to show up and lose, right?
Special Counsel Durham: You know, I’m sure that the players who exert blood, sweat, and tears don’t view it that way. But you might.
Rep. Gaetz: 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.
Special Counsel Durham: I’m thinking. I’m sorry a bit different. I was thinking of.
Rep. Gaetz: Yeah. So their job is to lose and I’m kind of wondering, and it just seems, it just seems so visually 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 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.
Special Counsel Durham: Do I get to respond to that or comment on that. Yeah. Well, I don’t know if you’ve ever investigated a crime.
Rep. Gaetz: I don’t know if you have. You didn’t investigate these Mr. Durham.
Special Counsel Durham: Whether or not.
Rep. Gaetz: How about Andy McCabe, did you charge him? Do you investigate him?
Rep Jordan: The gentleman’s time have expired. The witness can respond, then we’ll move on to our last.
Special Counsel Durham:I don’t know sir, if you’ve ever had an 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. Can’t charge people because we might think we can charge people.
Rep. Gaetz: It’s not that you didn’t just charge. You didn’t investigate. You didn’t investigate the Mueller team, analyzing their phones and tell us who gave the orders because you’re protecting those people.
