A senior FBI official stunned GOP members of Congress on Tuesday upon testifying that she has not read or even been briefed on special counsel John Durham‘s report.
Jill Murphy, the FBI’s deputy assistant director of counterintelligence, said during a hearing that she has not “had time” to read the report that was released early last week, though she intends to get to it.
The report, which came at the conclusion of a years-long inquiry, heavily criticized the FBI probe into alleged links between Donald Trump‘s 2016 campaign and Russia.
Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX), chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence, said he was “speechless” upon hearing that Murphy had not read the report.
The FBI's Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence tells @HomelandGOP:
"I have not read the Durham report." pic.twitter.com/3EOlLHVpPG
— Rep. August Pfluger (@RepPfluger) May 23, 2023
“I would highly recommend reading that because we spent four years discussing that — there was uncorroborated evidence. The Durham report specifically outlines the outcome of that. It’s very disappointing to hear this,” he said.
Although the hearing was focused on Chinese Communist Party “aggression,” other members of the subcommittee took the opportunity to talk about Durham’s report.
Under questioning by Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC), Murphy conceded that she had not even been briefed on Durham’s report.
.@RepDanBishop: "The Durham Report "has been out since the 12th of this month…Mr. Goldman's obviously been briefed on it…! Why is that not a matter of such import that you would want urgently to understand what the special counsel concluded…?
FBI Assistant Director of… pic.twitter.com/nNcEpuEnlt
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 23, 2023
Bishop said the report was “devastating” to the FBI and should be of “grave concern” to Murphy in particular because of her role.
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“Sir, if you’d like a brief on the Durham report from the Counterintelligence Division, I’m happy to take that back,” Murphy said upon being pressed about why she has not urgently dug into the special counsel’s findings.
“Wow, that sounds almost contemptuous,” Bishop shot back, adding later: “I’m just without words, that the FBI is unconcerned.”
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), who offered a negative critique of the Durham inquiry, took aim at his Republican colleagues for being heavily critical of the FBI and even talking about defunding the agency.
“The problem they have is that the FBI is doing its job in investigating their dear leader Donald Trump,” Goldman said. “And if you can undermine the investigator, if you can undermine independent journalists doing investigative reporting, then you can undermine our entire system of democracy.”