The Durham Report – why we should read it

Journalism should take a pause today. Yesterday, John Durham, special prosecutor to look into the FBI investigation into Donald Trump, released his report to the public at 4pm. The gist? The FBI never should have launched a Trump-Russia probe. The report puts the very faith and confidence in the FBI and the justice system into question at the upper most echelons. Going further, the report says that the Department of Justice and the FBI failed to uphold their mission. And finally, the FBI used the power of its office to interfere in a presidential election.

People at the very top of the FBI and government wanted to believe Donald Trump was a Russian spy and they went far above their rules of professional conduct to be directed by their bias to squelch his support.

In 2018, the staffs of The New York Times and The Washington Post were awarded Pulitzer Prizes “for deeply sourced, relentlessly reported coverage in the public interest that dramatically furthered the nation’s understanding of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and its connections to the Trump campaign, the President-elect’s transition team and his eventual administration.” Will they be recalled?

As claims are made of presidential election interference, perhaps the biggest interference came from our own government, emboldened by mainstream media. What will happen from here with less than 2 years to the next election, will tell how seriously we want to address these issues.

At the end of the report ways to “reform the FBI” were suggested: