Special Counsel John Durham, tasked with finding out the origin of Democrats' debunked "Russia Collusion" allegation against former President Donald Trump and his campaign in 2016, appears to be more frugal than Special Counsel Robert Mueller's previous investigation, by an approximate factor of five, according to a new report.
While Mueller reportedly spent around $32 million in his failed attempt to criminally indict Trump and his inner campaign circle, after finding no evidence of Trump colluding with Russia in defeating Democratic Party presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016, Durham has spent less than $7 million in his pursuit to find out if there was any criminality from those making the allegations against Trump, Just the News reported Monday.
According to the report, Durham has spent around $6.5 million of taxpayer money since launching his probe in October 2020, compared to the $32 million Mueller racked up from May 2017 through May 2019.
That amounts to Durham spending less than $10,000 per day, compared to Mueller spending than $43,000 per day, some 4.7 times more than Durham, the report said.
Durham's latest spending report was released last week.
While Mueller was able to utilize 19 lawyers and 40 FBI agents to secure several process convictions on charges non-related to the 2016 election, Durham has secured just one guilty plea — FBI agent Kevin Clinesmith, for altering a document related directly to the former collusion investigation.
Two others charged in the investigation have been acquitted at trial, including Hillary Clinton campaign attorney Michael Sussmann, and Igor Danchenko, the primary source of the infamous Steele Dossier, according to Just The News.
Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., who headed up the House Judiciary Committee at the time of Mueller’s final report, credited the counsel with the convictions.
Nadler also stated that a good portion of the $42 million seized from the conviction of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort would offset the cost of the investigation, according to CNBC at the time.
"You secured the convictions of President Trump's campaign chairman, his deputy campaign manager, his national security adviser, and his personal lawyer, among others," Nadler reportedly said when Mueller testified in front of the committee in 2019.
"In the Paul Manafort case alone, you recovered as much as $42 million, so that the cost of your investigation to the taxpayers approaches zero," said Nadler.
However, PolitiFact, via a CNBC report, said the money would go to the Department of Justice's Assets Forfeiture Fund and not directly to pay for Mueller's investigation.
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