Yesterday I watched the entirety of Special Counsel John Durham’s testimony before the House Committee on the Judiciary, where he was questioned about the “Durham Report,” or more formally, the “Report on Matters Related to Intelligence Activities and Investigations Arising Out of the 2016 Presidential Campaigns.”

The report itself was unsatisfying as it was severely flawed as to its scope, which omitted several important events and the fact that several key players, such as the top leadership of the Department of Justice and FBI, were never interviewed under oath. It is as if the Special Counsel sought to limit the damage to the Department of Justice, which remained his employer throughout the investigation.

Remember, Durham was not an “independent” counsel and was subject to DOJ policies and regulations.

Independent counsels were appointed by a special three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals under the now-expired Ethics in Government Act of 1978. The act provided a framework for investigating and prosecuting government officials, including the President, for alleged criminal misconduct.

It was replaced by a “Special Counsel” position established under the U.S. Department of Justice regulations where the Attorney General or, in some cases, a Deputy Attorney General, appoints a special counsel to investigate and potentially prosecute matters of public concern.

The hearing was about what you would expect, with the progressive communist democrats attacking John Durham, the report's contents, and inserting statements having nothing to do with the matters at hand. Like most hearings, it was a matter of political grandstanding and speechifying mixed with attempts at asking gotcha questions.

What I learned…

The primary takeaway is that the report was flawed as it omitted critical events and players. Among the players never questioned under oath were FBI Director James B. Comey, FBI Director Andrew McCabe, FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, Fusion GPS president Glenn Simpson, FBI agents Peter Strzok and Bill Priestap, and many others. The fact is that Durham had subpoena power as a special counsel and could have compelled those witnesses to cooperate.

I also learned that words alone cannot describe my disgust for Congress on both sides of the aisle.

Moreover, I struggled with descriptive adjectives to describe certain progressive communist democrats on the Committee, such as Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Henry Johnson (D-NY), Eric Swalwell (D-CA), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Cori Bush (D-MO), Ted Lieu (D-CA), and the worst of the worst liar, leaker, perjurer, and evidence fabricator Adam Schiff (D-CA).

Corrupt, odious, evil, un-American, incompetent, absurd, disrespectful, dishonest, deceptive, liar, pampered, privileged, and some descriptive word combinations that involve words used more in rap videos.

As disappointing as the Durham hearing, there was good news ...

House Votes to Censure Adam Schiff

The House voted largely along party lines (213-209) to pass a Republican measure censuring Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA).

All Democrats voted against it while the five Republican members of the House Ethics Committee, as well as Representative Buck, voted "present" on the measure. Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) removed the $16 million fine from her previous bill to gain passage.  Luna claimed that "Mr. Schiff exploited his position as chair of Intel Committee, and every opportunity possible, threatening national security, undermining our duly elected president and bringing dishonor upon the institution.

The present votes were excusable as Schiff will be the subject of a House Ethics Committee for investigation over his "falsehoods, misrepresentations and abuse of sensitive information."

118th CONGRESS 1st Session H. RES. 489 Censuring and condemning Adam Schiff, Representative of California’s 30th Congressional District. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES June 9, 2023 Mrs. Luna (for herself, Mr. Gaetz, Mrs. Boebert, Mr. Moore of Alabama, Mr. Hern, Mr. Burlison, Ms. Hageman, Mr. Norman, Mr. Langworthy, Mr. Mike Garcia of California, and Mr. Luttrell) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Ethics RESOLUTION Censuring and condemning Adam Schiff, Representative of California’s 30th Congressional District. Whereas the allegation that President Donald Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 Presidential election has been revealed as false by numerous in-depth investigations, including the recent report by Special Counsel John Durham, which documents how the conspiracy theory was invented, funded, and spread by President’s Trump’s political rivals; Whereas Representative Adam Schiff, who served as ranking minority member and then Chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives (HPSCI), occupied positions of extreme trust, affording him access to sensitive intelligence unavailable to most Members of Congress; Whereas for years Representative Schiff abused this trust by citing evidence of collusion that—as is clear from reports by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz, and Special Counsel Durham—does not exist; Whereas, by repeatedly telling these falsehoods, Representative Schiff purposely deceived his Committee, Congress, and the American people; Whereas Representative Schiff lent credibility to the Steele dossier—a collection of debunked collusion accusations funded by President Trump’s political rivals—by reading false Steele allegations into the Congressional Record at a HPSCI hearing on March 20, 2017; Whereas once again abusing his privileged access to classified information, Representative Schiff composed a false memo justifying the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant application on Trump associate Carter Page, which Inspector General Horowitz later found was riddled with 17 major mistakes and omissions, provoking FISA Court Presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer to state unequivocally that the Federal Bureau of Investigation “mislead the FISC”; Whereas, by publicly smearing Carter Page as a Russian collaborator and justifying spurious investigations of him, Representative Schiff contributed to the gross violation of a United States citizen’s civil liberties, thereby committing the very abuses HPSCI is tasked with identifying and thwarting; Whereas as HPSCI ranking minority member and Chairman, Representative Schiff behaved dishonestly and dishonorably on many other occasions, including by falsely denying that his staff coordinated with a whistleblower to launch the first impeachment of President Trump; Whereas as part of his impeachment efforts, during an HPSCI hearing on September 26, 2019, Representative Schiff recited a false, concocted rendition of a phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky; Whereas Representative Schiff exploited his positions on HPSCI to encourage and excuse abusive intelligence investigations of Americans for political purposes; Whereas Representative Schiff used his position and access to sensitive information to instigate a fraudulently based investigation, which he then used to amass political gain and fundraising dollars; Whereas the American taxpayers paid $32 million to fund the investigation into collusion that was launched as a result of Representative Schiff’s lies, misrepresentations, and abuses of sensitive information. Now, therefore, be it  Resolved, That— (1) the House of Representatives censures and condemns Adam Schiff, Representative of California’s 30th Congressional District, for conduct that misleads the American people in a way that is not befitting an elected Member of the House of Representatives; (2) Representative Adam Schiff will forthwith present himself in the well of the House of Representatives for the pronouncement of censure; (3) Representative Adam Schiff will be censured with the public reading of this resolution by the Speaker; and (4) the Committee on Ethics shall conduct an investigation into Representative Adam Schiff’s lies, misrepresentations, and abuses of sensitive information. <Source>

Bottom line…

We are screwed. And even if we allow the GOP to gain an unassailable majority in the House and Senate and assume the Presidency, it may not be enough to overcome our political overlords and the bureaucratic deep state.

That doesn’t mean we don’t try – it just means there are no quick fixes. Remember that our enemies like China, Russia, Iran, and the Democrats get a vote!

I say again; we are so screwed.

-- Steve