Liberal commentators who claimed Donald Trump colluded with Russia received an embarrassing blow on Monday when John Durham’s long-awaited report said there was no ‘factual evidence’ to warrant a lengthy FBI investigation. on the allegations.
News pundits and comedians have spent countless hours rehashing the theory that Trump and his campaign officials conspired with Russia to influence the 2016 election victory over Hillary Clinton.
Their coverage was often written with reference to several investigations into the issue.
But Durham’s report, the latest to focus on the allegations, found the Justice Department and FBI “did not adhere to their mission of strict fidelity to the law” when launching the Trump investigation- Russia.
Several investigations, including the Mueller investigation, have failed to uncover evidence that Trump and his aides colluded with Russia.
Joe Scarborough, the former Republican Rep. who now co-hosts Morning Joe on MSNBC (right), said in August 2018 that Trump’s behavior amounted to a “conspiracy” that may have been criminal
Rachel Maddow peddled unsubstantiated claims in Steele’s controversial filing which claimed Russia had meddled in the election and “the Trump campaign”. [was] to help, to accompany, to connive, to be part of it ‘
Rachel Maddow, MSNBC anchor and host of The Rachel Maddow Show, has been one of the most vocal supporters of the alleged collusion between Trump and Russia.
His broadcasts embraced Steele’s controversial dossier, which included a series of lurid and unproven allegations about Trump’s ties to Russia.
Indeed, the Durham Report “determined that the [FBI] investigators did not and could not substantiate any of the substantive allegations contained in Steele’s report”.
But Maddow has repeatedly hinted that the Steele dossier lends weight to the collusion allegations.
In March 2017, she said: ‘The substantive allegation of this unproven dossier is that Russia didn’t just attack our election, it did so with the knowledge and support of the Trump campaign that people of Trump were in the know that they knew what Russia was doing while they were doing it and they kept meeting Russians.
Maddow says later on the show, “What [Steele] says he found there was evidence not only that Russia was attacking the US presidential election, but that one party in that election – the Trump campaign – was helping it, following it, colluding, in was part of it, and that’s a far worse allegation than the only Russians attacking our election.
She added, “We have to continue to describe them as unsubstantiated but towards the basic thesis of this dossier that the Trump campaign was in on little pieces of these verifiable little pieces that are falling into place almost every day now.”
Joe Scarborough, the former Republican Rep. who now co-hosts Morning Joe on MSNBC, said in August 2018 that there was “no collusion” but that Trump’s behavior amounted to a “conspiracy” that was possibly – be criminal.
CNN host Anderson Cooper devoted many segments to the investigations. Cooper avoided outright stating that Trump was colluding with Russia, but the broadcasts included innuendo that Trump was in cahoots with Moscow.
Stephen Colbert, host of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, joked in July 2018 that Trump’s repetition of the phrase “no collusion” was synonymous with his guilt. He said: “He uses it for every occasion. It’s like its Aloha – it means both hello and I’m guilty’
He said: “They were conspiring with the Russians. No complicity. Let’s not use the word collusion, they were plotting with the Russians, it’s a plot. So, okay, no collusion. A conspiracy.
“A criminal conspiracy perhaps. But he distracts people in the crowd, calls it fake news, hoping he can get away with the crimes.
The claims have also provided ammunition for nighttime TV hosts.
Stephen Colbert, host of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, joked in July 2018 that Trump’s repetition of the phrase “no collusion” was synonymous with his guilt.
He said: “He uses it for every occasion. It’s like its Aloha – it means both hello and I’m guilty.
Hinting that the then president had committed a crime, Colbert added: “But Trump is right about one thing: there is no law against collusion.” Technically, this is called “conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States”.
He was also joined by fellow comedian and commentator John Oliver in August 2017 when the pair delivered a series of jokes implying the president was colluding with Russia.
Colbert asks Oliver, “Have we come to a country where colluding with a hostile foreign power to manipulate our election is a left-right thing?”
Oliver replies, “I don’t know – but the very fact that you just said that sentence out loud shows we’re screwed.”
Special Counsel Durham reported to Congress on Monday on his four-year investigation, which cost more than $6 million in taxpayer dollars.
Special Counsel John Durham was appointed in 2019 by then-Attorney General Bill Barr to investigate misconduct related to the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
CNN host Anderson Cooper devoted many segments to the investigations.
In February 2018, he aired a ten-minute segment titled “Keeping Them Honest: About That ‘Russia Hoax’ Thing”, which was pinned on charges brought by the Justice Department against 13 Russian nationals for interfering in the elections.
Cooper avoided outright stating that Trump was colluding with Russia, but the show included innuendo that suggested the then-president was in cahoots with Moscow.
He said the announcement of the charges against the Russians suggested that ‘indictments of other people’ could also follow and later added: ‘This investigation is not over, it certainly does not acquit anyone , let alone the president, and it is certainly not a hoax. ‘
Another segment in January 2019 showed a series of clips of Trump repeating the words “no collusion.” He appeared with the “Keeping Them Honest: Suspicion” banner. After the suspicions. After the suspicions.’
Cooper later said, “Everything that happens is something. Maybe benign, maybe ill-judged, maybe all within the president’s constitutional and legal authority — or maybe not. What kind of something it is, we don’t know. Two presidents do, however: President Trump and Vladimir Putin.
