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Then-Attorney General William P. Barr declined to pursue any of those alleged obstructions — and made a point of whitewashing the entire Mueller report before it came out and anyone else could read it.
And, of course, the doubt the American public has about the veracity of reporting is greatly fueled by the rise of right-wing echo chambers such as Fox News.
William Hettinger, Rockville
Marc A. Thiessen’s May 18 op-ed accused “the media” of playing down special counsel John Durham’s “damning indictment of the FBI” and contributing to the tragic events of Jan. 6, 2021.
Mr. Durham’s report was hardly revelatory and certainly was no justification for the additional taxpayer expense. His report resulted in no new charges for wrongdoing, unlike Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation. The FBI misconduct Mr. Durham and Mr. Thiessen rehashed was addressed by the Justice Department’s inspector general report.
Mr. Thiessen implied that a baseless “conspiracy theory” has wasted precious resources and time, but he failed to report Mr. Mueller’s introductory admonition that “the investigation did not always yield … a complete picture of the activities undertaken by subjects of the investigation” because of the limitations of his purview, deleted and encrypted communications, false and incomplete statements by Trump campaign associates, and their invocation of their Fifth Amendment rights.
Nor did Mr. Thiessen mention the 2020 GOP-led Senate Intelligence Committee’s damning findings regarding connections between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Notice, too, Mr. Thiessen’s glib gloss on the critical phrase “as part of the materials”; it is already an acknowledged fact that Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants for Carter Page did not rely solely on the dossier.
Most galling, Mr. Thiessen excoriated “the media” for insufficient curiosity, creating distrust, misleading the public and “directly [contributing] to the events of Jan. 6, 2021.” Outrageously, Mr. Thiessen failed to mention the epic defamation suit against Fox News, the largest conservative media outlet, that was recently settled. Nor did he acknowledge that the Republican politicians and operatives who repeated the falsehoods from conservative media indubitably contributed to the anger that led to Jan. 6.
Natalie Lauren Patten, Washington
Paul Waldman’s description — “a molehill” — in his May 17 op-ed, “Trump finds use for the Durham dud,” of special counsel John Durham’s report of the FBI investigation into Russian interference on behalf of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign will be ignored by the fanatical Trumpites in Congress and the current version of the Republican Party.
But all the would-be apologists for the former president’s pro-Russian policies and statements need to be reminded of one particular investigation. And that is the conclusions of the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee on Aug. 18, 2020.
That committee, led by Republican Sens. Richard Burr (N.C.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.), concluded — and I believe unanimously — that Russia intervened broadly and deeply to try to help Mr. Trump win the 2016 election. The committee, while saying there was no “coordinated” link, found that there were extensive contacts between Trump campaign leaders and Russian officials in an all-out attack to help Mr. Trump.
No wonder Mr. Trump accepted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s denial of interference at Helsinki, turning his back on U.S. intelligence agencies; no wonder Russian gun interests donated to the National Rifle Association to help Trump in 2016. No wonder Mr. Trump today effectively supports Mr. Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Fred Hill, Arrowsic, Maine
Did the May 17 editorial “Would you pay $6.5 million for this investigation?” seriously question the $6.5 million cost into special counsel John Durham’s investigation — when the erroneous Mueller investigation that prompted the Durham investigation cost $32 million? Based on those significantly different costs, perhaps the editorial should have questioned why the Mueller investigation cost so much.
The fact is that the FBI’s flawed handling of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act applications to surveil Trump adviser Carter Page was the ultimate catalyst for two unnecessary investigations costing taxpayers $38.5 million.
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