Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., once said she guaranteed that President Donald Trump colluded with Russia to win the White House in 2016 – a claim contradicted by this week’s release of Special Counsel John Durham’s report on the Trump investigation.
“Here you have a president who I can tell you, I guarantee you, is in collusion with the Russians to undermine our democracy,” Waters said in September 2017.
The Durham probe, released nearly six years after that comment, determined that the investigation into the Trump campaign’s connection with Russia was premised on “raw, unanalyzed and uncorroborated intelligence.” The investigation, the report concluded, had no “actual evidence of collusion” to justify its launch, and the actions from the Department of Justice and FBI “failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law.”
Waters emerged as an early proponent of the Russia collusion theory. She introduced legislation to investigate Trump over collusion claims less than a month after his inauguration. She later called for his impeachment.
“I will fight every day until he is impeached,” Waters said in April 2017. “Impeach 45.”
The Durham probe concluded the core problem with the launch of the Russia collusion investigation, which was titled “Crossfire Hurricane,” was that it relied on information from sources openly opposed to Trump’s presidency.
“In particular, there was significant reliance on investigative leads provided or funded (directly or indirectly) by Trump’s political opponents,” the report stated. “The Department did not adequately examine or question these materials and the motivations of those providing them, even when at about the same time the Director of the FBI and others learned of significant and potentially contrary intelligence.”
JEAN PIERRE ENDS BRIEFING AFTER BEING PRESSED ON DURHAM REPORT
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Special Counsel Robert Mueller released his investigation into Trump-Russia collusion in April 2019, concluding there was no evidence of criminal conspiracy to influence the 2016 election.
Waters’ office did not respond to a request for comment.