Democrats Vow to Audit Durham Probe Based on New York Times’ Anonymous Sources

Special counsel John Durham arrives at federal court in Washington on May 18, 2022. Teng Chen/The Epoch Times

A Democrat-led U.S. Senate committee is alleging that President Donald Trump weaponized the Department of Justice—based on a New York Times report citing anonymous sources—and is vowing to examine former special counsel John Durham’s inquiry for misconduct.

Durham had been evaluating the alleged mismanagement by law enforcement and intelligence agencies of the Trump–Russia investigation after being appointed by former Attorney General Bill Barr.

“These reports about abuses in Special Counsel Durham’s investigation—so outrageous that even his longtime colleagues quit in protest—are but one of many instances where former President Trump and his allies weaponized the Justice Department,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) alleged in an online statement.

Durbin was reacting to a Jan. 26 New York Times report that accused Durham of failing to bring charges against Trump based on information from Italian officers that alleged suspicious financial dealings.

“As we wait for the results of ongoing internal reviews, the Senate Judiciary Committee will do its part and take a hard look at these repeated episodes, and the regulations and policies that enabled them, to ensure such abuses of power cannot happen again,” Durbin said.

However, The New York Times admits that allegations in the report lack sources who are willing to talk on the record.

“The current and former officials who discussed the investigation all spoke on the condition of anonymity,” the report reads.

The report was released after the U.S. House of Representatives approved the formation of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, from which Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has already launched an investigation into the use of federal law enforcement and national security agencies against conservatives.

The New York Times report also accused Durham of using Russian intelligence documents to delve into the emails of a George Soros assistant and alleges that Durham’s aide, Nora Dannehy, resigned in 2020 over questions about prosecutorial ethics concerning Michael Sussmann, who was the lawyer representing Democrats during the probe into Trump’s alleged link to Russia.

“Mr. Durham used grand jury powers to keep pursuing the emails even after a judge twice rejected his request for access to them,” the report alleges. “The emails yielded no evidence that Mr. Durham has cited in any case he pursued.”