(Ken Silva, Headline USA) In July 2019, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, hammered former FBI official and special counsel Robert Mueller for failing to criminally charge Joseph Mifsud—a mysterious Maltese professor said to have originated the entire Russia-collusion fiasco by telling Trump associate George Papadopoulos in 2016 that the Russians had damning information on Hillary Clinton.
“The central figure who started it all lies to us, and you don’t hunt him down or charge him with a crime … And here’s the good news: That’s exactly what Bill Barr is doing. That’s exactly what the attorney general and [special counsel] John Durham are doing,” Jordan said at the time.
Originally, Mifsud was thought to be a Russian operative offering to work as an intermediary between Russia and the Trump campaign. As the Russia-collusion narrative collapsed, Jordan and other Republicans came to believe that Mifsud was more likely a Western intelligence operative looking to ensnare Papadopoulos and the Trump campaign in a counterintelligence sting operation.
However, it was revealed at a Wednesday congressional hearing that Durham, who was charged with investigating the origins of the Russia hoax, never got to the bottom of who Mifsud is—or for whom he was working in 2016.
“It’s hard to say who he’s associated with,” Durham said at the hearing.
For Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., that was too much to handle. Gaetz ripped into Durham for his investigative failures, going so far as to accuse the former special counsel of working for the enemy.
“You had years to find out the answer to what Mr. Jordan said [in 2019] was the seminal question, and you don’t have it—which begs the question of whether you were actually trying to find that out,” Gaetz said.
“Because it’s one thing to criticize the FBI for their FISA violations and write a report—some consider your work a regurgitation of what the inspector general already told us,” he continued. “If you weren’t going to get to the bottom of what Jordan wanted, what’s this been all about?”
Durham said he “tried” to find Mifsud, but failed to do so. This irked Gaetz even more.
“You’re disappointed the FBI didn’t cooperate … We’re disappointed too, but the difference is: When normal folks do something wrong, there’s typically a greater effort to get those people before a grand jury to utilize the criminal process, when appropriate,” Gaetz said.
Gaetz then dropped his bombshell allegation, accusing Durham of helping the FBI cover its tracks.
“When you are part of the coverup, Mr. Durham, it makes our job that much harder,” he said.
Durham took offense to this remark, saying that he and his staff worked hard over the last four years on their investigation. But Gaetz was unmoved, further accusing the Durham team of being akin to the Washington Generals—the basketball team that loses nearly every game to the Harlem Globetrotters.
“I don’t know if you’ve ever investigated a crime—,” Durham attempted to respond, before being cut short by Gaetz.
“I don’t know if you have, Mr. Durham!” Gaetz said before his portion of the hearing concluded.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
