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Longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon harshly criticized the Durham report for not recommending criminal charges after his investigation into the FBI's Trump-Russia probe, blasting the special counsel's conclusions as an "epic failure."
On a Tuesday episode of his podcast Bannon's War Room, Bannon said Special Counsel Robert Durham's report was an "epic failure" because Durham failed to bring convictions after a three-and-a-half-year investigation.
"Where are the charges? [Special Counsel Robert Durham] had all access. He had an unlimited budget. He'd spent six million dollars. He had four years. Where's the beef?" Bannon asked.
Durham's report, which was released Monday, found that the FBI had no evidence of collusion before it launched its Crossfire Hurricane probe into whether former President Donald Trump and Russia conspired to influence the 2016 election. But the special counsel stopped short of recommending charges.
The report was widely seen as a win for Trump, who has blasted Crossfire Hurricane as a "hoax" and "political witch hunt" since it began. In the more-than-300-page report, Durham agreed with Trump that federal agencies did not have any solid intelligence when they began the Russia investigation.
Trump himself celebrated the findings over Truth Social, saying the report essentially showed that "the American Public was scammed, just as it is being scammed right now by those who don't want to see GREATNESS for AMERICA!"
But some of the former president's associates, like Bannon, wanted Durham to do more.
Bannon said that Durham couldn't just leave it up to the courts to bring justice; he had to act as "some kind of driver prosecuting" those involved in Crossfire Hurricane.
"The courts are not going to sit there just like gods and deem this to be true," Bannon said. "You have to bring cases before them. Is this the epic failure? Am I missing it? I'm not a lawyer. But isn't this the epic failure of Durham?"
Newsweek reached out to the DOJ for comment.
On Tuesday, Bannon also criticized Durham for taking so long to complete his investigation, saying, "I don't know how you didn't find this sooner," and likened the special counsel to former Attorney General Bill Barr, who he lamented as a "RINO," or Republican In Name Only.
"If the Justice Department fully cooperated, how did they not find this sooner?" Bannon's guest, Founder and President of the Article III Project Mike Davis, agreed. "How did they not find this before the statute of limitations? How are there not crimes charged here?"
About the writer
Katherine Fung is a Newsweek senior reporter based in New York City. She has covered U.S. politics and culture extensively. ... Read more