GOP Sens. Johnson, Grassley press Durham on uncooperative FBI officials

"Congress requires additional information with respect to this refusal to cooperate and how it ultimately concluded," the pair wrote.

By Ben Whedon

Published: May 23, 2023 5:35pm

Updated: May 23, 2023 5:38pm

Republican Sens. Ron Johnson, Wisc., and Chuck Grassley, Iowa, on Tuesday pressed special counsel John Durham on his efforts to secure information from key FBI officials and relevant persons who declined to be interviewed during his investigation.

Durham recently published his findings after a years-long investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia collusion hoax that determined the FBI began its investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign with no predicating evidence and revealed that key intelligence officials were aware of the Clinton campaign's plan to fabricate links between Moscow and the former president's campaign before the election even occurred.

"[W]e noticed that several high-level former government officials directly involved in Crossfire Hurricane either declined or partially declined to cooperate with your investigation," the pair wrote to Durham following the release of his final report. Among those individuals were former FBI Director James Comey, former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former Assistant Director Bill Priestap, former Agent Peter Strzok, former FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith, and Fusion GPS's Glenn Simpson.

Lawmakers letter to Durham

"Congress requires additional information with respect to this refusal to cooperate and how it ultimately concluded," the pair wrote. "It seems odd that individuals would be allowed to avoid fully cooperating with your office, particularly given your authority to compel testimony and records."

They further contrasted former special counsel Robert Mueller's issuing more than 2,800 subpoenas during his investigation with the 190 that Durham issued.

The lawmakers asked Durham to state whether he issued any of those individuals a subpoena and, if not, to explain why. They also asked him to provide details on his statement that some personnel in the Counterintelligence Division of the FBI refused to cooperate and that bureau leadership intervened to urge them to do so.

Grassley and Johnson also asked him to identify those who refused to cooperate and those who ultimately relented.

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