Conservative presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said special counsel John Durham’s final report on the FBI’s bogus investigation into Trump campaign collusion with Russia underscores his call to shut down the politically “weaponized” federal law enforcement agency.
The Ohio entrepreneur joined fellow GOP presidential candidates in condemning what the report found to be the FBI’s failure to vet false allegations that former President Donald Trump and his campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election that Trump ultimately won.
“60 years ago they targeted MLK. Now they target concerned parents, Christians, pro-life moms, & political rivals. Who’s next? The weaponization of police power is un-American. We will finally end the corruption,” Ramaswamy tweeted Tuesday.
60 years ago they targeted MLK. Now they target concerned parents, Christians, pro-life moms, & political rivals. Who’s next? The weaponization of police power is un-American. We will finally end the corruption. pic.twitter.com/MKb4qlSODn
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) May 16, 2023
The political outsider who has been making some noise in national polls said he would, if elected president, shut down what he said is a corrupt Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Some Republican lawmakers are expressing similar sentiments. They want Durham to testify next week on Capitol Hill on his 300-page report, released on Monday by the Department of Justice.
“There needs to be prosecutions. There needs to be accountability. And the FBI has got to be overhauled now top to bottom. It’s got to be completely reformed, it can not go on like it is,” U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) told Fox News.
Ramaswamy, speaking to Fox News on Tuesday, said reform is not enough.
“It reaffirms a call I made in early march to shut down the FBI,” the millennial candidate said. “It is a corrupt institution that has repeatedly revealed itself to be politicized. … When you have an administrative rot that runs that deep you can not reform it top down, you have to actually shut it down.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, expected to declare his run for the Republican presidential nomination any day, said he would “clean house top to bottom in these agencies” when asked about the report.
“The Durham Report confirmed what we already knew: weaponized federal agencies manufactured a false conspiracy theory about Trump-Russia collusion,” DeSantis wrote on Twitter. “It reminds us of the need to clean house at these agencies, as they’ve never been held accountable for this egregious abuse of power.”
The Durham Report confirmed what we already knew: weaponized federal agencies manufactured a false conspiracy theory about Trump-Russia collusion. It reminds us of the need to clean house at these agencies, as they've never been held accountable for this egregious abuse of power.
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) May 15, 2023
Durham’s scathing report heavily criticized the agency, the Justice Department, and the intelligence community in general for launching its so-called “Crossfire Hurricane” probe on the specious Steele Dossier. That piece of political propaganda, funded by Trump’s political opponents, Hillary Clinton’s campaign, and the Democratic National Committee, has been whole debunked as the opposition research it was.
“Based on the review of Crossfire Hurricane and related intelligence activities, we conclude that the Department and the FBI failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law in connection with certain events and activities described in this report,” the Durham report states.
Solidifying the politically driven nature of the FBI’s investigation, Durham’s report notes that then-President Barack Obama and his vice president, Joe Biden, were briefed on Clinton’s plan to link Trump to Russia, but they still pushed the collusion hoax.
As the New York Post reports:
Clinton allegedly signed off on the plot on July 26, 2016, and the same month “U.S. intelligence agencies obtained insight into Russian intelligence analysis alleging that U.S Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had approved a campaign plan to stir up a scandal against U.S. Presidential candidate Donald Trump by tying him to Putin and the Russians’ hacking of the Democratic National Committee.”
On August 3, 2016, the allegation was briefed to Obama, then-Vice President Joe Biden, and then-FBI Director James Comey by then-CIA Director John Brennan at an Oval Office meeting, the report confirms.
And the Trump-hating “mainstream” media played along until the dossier and the allegations were no longer tenable. Some played along even then.
Former South Carolina Governor and GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley said “heads need to roll.”
“They spied on Americans. They spied on Americans and had no reason to do it.,” Haley, Trump’s former United Nations Secretary, said Tuesday on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.” “Biden needs to answer for this, Democrat leadership needs to answer for this, Republicans and Democrats need to come together to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Heads need to roll for this.”
Former Arkansas Governor and Republican presidential hopeful Asa Hutchinson, certainly no fan of Trump, tweeted:
“The Durham report today faulted the FBI for failing to uphold the integrity of the law. This makes my call to reform the FBI and limit the breadth of its jurisdiction even more important,” Hutchinson wrote, adding, “Great people. Just needs more focus and accountability.”
The Durham report today faulted the FBI for failing to uphold the integrity of the law. This makes my call to reform the FBI and limit the breadth of its jurisdiction even more important. Great people. Just needs more focus and accountability.
— Gov. Asa Hutchinson (@AsaHutchinson) May 15, 2023
The FBI launched its now-infamous investigation into the Trump campaign in July 2016, a few months before the election and just days after Comey let Clinton off the hook for her “grossly negligent” use of personal emails to conduct the business of Secretary of State. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who took over the Crossfire Hurricane probe in 2017, ultimately found insufficient evidence to charge Trump campaign officials with conspiracy or collusion.
Trump praised Durham’s work, and blasted the intelligence community.
“THEY ARE SCUM, LIKE COCKROACHES ALL OVER WASHINGTON, D.C.,” he wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “Congratulations to John Durham on a Report that is being praised for its quality, importance, and professionalism, by friend and foe alike.”
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Vivek Ramaswamy” by Fox News.
