‘You Let The Country Down’: GOP’s Matt Gaetz Attacks Durham For Lack of Prosecutions

Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) tore into Special Counsel John Durham on Wednesday during a House Judiciary Committee hearing and accused the Trump-era prosecutor of being part of the “cover-up.”

Gaetz, known for his flamethrowing rhetoric, lit into Durham for not prosecuting more individuals that he believed were part of a conspiracy that fueled the FBI’s investigation into allegations the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia.

“Do you see how silly this looks? You’ve found the lawyer, you found the phones, but the actual dude who got ordered by Western intelligence to go start this thing you couldn’t find,” Gaetz declared as he grilled Durham.

“It’s, it’s kind of laughable. It seems like more than disappointment. It seems like you weren’t really trying to expose the true core of the corruption that you were trying to. You were trying to go at it another way,” Gaetz raged.

“Yeah. As we said in the report, I said in my opening remarks, we pursued the facts as best we could,” Durham replied.

“How about this fact, Mr. Durham? The entire Mueller team does a hard reset on their Apple phone in synchronization to wipe away evidence. Did you investigate that?” Gaetz then asked.

“I read that,” Durham replied.

“Did you investigate it? Who gave the order on the Mueller team to wipe the phones?” Gaetz demanded.

“Yeah. That was not something that we were asked to look at and we didn’t,” Durham replied.

“That’s not true, Mr. Durham,” Gaetz shot back.

“That is not true, because I am holding the document that authorizes your activity, and it specifically says the investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller,” Gaetz declared holding up a document.

Later in the exchange, Gaetz again accused Durham of not following through with his mandate:

It’s literally the scope of what your charging order is. Who put it in motion? We get after, it was put in motion, the FBI did a bunch of wrong and corrupt things. Totally understand we’re trying to deal with that. But when you are part of the cover up, Mr. Durham, then it makes our job harder.

“Yeah, well, if that’s your side, I mean, there’s no way of dissuading you from that,” Durham conceded, adding:

I can tell you that it’s offensive and that the people who worked on this investigation have spent their lives trying to protect people in this country and pursue within the law what it is that we do is authorized to do.

“You tried two cases, lost both of them. And then the one plea, guilty plea you got. Clinesmith. Clinesmith is back to practicing law in Washington, D.C. today,” Gaetz raged – referring to Kevin Clinesmith, who “admitted to altering an email used to seek surveillance warrants against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page,” reported Politico at the time.

“Yeah, that’s beyond my control,” Durham replied.

“But the fact that you allowed that plea to occur. Right, and then the punishment was insufficient. The fact that you didn’t, you didn’t charge Andrew McCabe, you didn’t convict lying Democrats or the lying Russians. You didn’t investigate Mifsud or the Mueller probe, even though as we sit here today and black letter, that was your charge. Have you ever heard of the Washington generals?” Gaetz argued.

Gaetz was referring to Joseph Mifsud, who Reuters described as “a 59-year-old Maltese academic involved in law and diplomacy education programs in London and Rome, who also had contacts with Russian officials and met with George Papadopoulos” and for a time was considered a central figure in Durham’s investigation.

Gaetz then asked Durham if he knew who the Washington Generals are.

“And they’re the team that basically gets paid to show up and lose, right?” Gaetz continued, adding:

And I’m kind of wondering and it just seems so facially obvious that it’s not what’s in your report that’s telling. It’s the omission. It’s the lack of work you did. And for the people like the chairman who put trust in you, I think you let them down. I think you let the country down. And you are one of the barriers to the true accountability that we need.

Durham tried to respond to and asked Gaetz, “I don’t know if you’ve ever investigated a crime?”

“I don’t know that you have. You didn’t investigate these, Mr. Durham,” Gaetz shot back, cutting him off.

Watch the full clip above via C-SPAN.

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