Former AG Barr: Durham report clears Trump, investigation an 'abomination'

Former Attorney General Bill Barr excoriated the FBI in the aftermath of Special Counsel John Durham's report, which revealed that the bureau began its investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign without predicating evidence.

"I think the real story here—from the FBI’s perspective—is what an abomination this was, this so-called investigation. If it wasn’t a witch hunt, it’s a damn good imitation of one," Barr said on Fox News this week. The investigation, he said, was "one of the greatest injustices done to a presidential candidate and a president."

The report largely addressed the origins of the FBI's "Crossfire Hurricane" investigation, during which agents sought potential links between Trump, his campaign officials, and the Russian government.

"Neither U.S. law enforcement nor the Intelligence Community appears to have possessed any actual evidence of collusion in their holdings at the commencement of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation," Durham wrote. Moreover, he further highlighted that key intelligence officials such as FBI Director James Comey and CIA Director John Brennan were aware of the Clinton campaign's plan to fabricate a story about Trump-Russia collusion as early as August of 2016.

"Both the press and the FBI abandoned any semblance of professionalism and took up the cause with a vengeance," Barr added. 

The former attorney general broke with Trump following the 2020 presidential election and does not intend to support him in 2024, though he conceded that the report's findings would benefit Trump in the short term.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.