"The Russian collusion hoax was exactly that," said Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., a retired U.S. Army officer who joined Newsmax's "John Bachman Now" to talk about the Durham Report on the Trump-Russia probe. Steube is on the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which will hold a hearing Thursday.
For four years, special counsel John Durham examined the origins of the FBI's investigation of potential links between Russian officials and Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. His final report was released on Monday.
In the report's introduction, Durham seems to respond to some Republicans' disappointment that he failed to secure significant criminal convictions related to alleged FBI misconduct in the Trump-Russia probe, Politico noted.
Durham brought criminal charges against just three people, Politico reported. He lost both cases that went to trial. In a third case, an ex-FBI lawyer named Kevin Clinesmith pleaded guilty to altering an email that was used to support a surveillance application. Clinesmith was not sentenced to any prison time, Politico reported.
"Durham's report concludes with something unusual for a criminal probe conducted under the Justice Department's special counsel regulations: a variety of recommendations about how DOJ [the Department of Justice] and the FBI should change the way they do business," Politico wrote.
Newsmax asked Steube what we can expect from the House hearing Thursday.
"So people like myself are very frustrated that [former FBI Director James] Comey and some of these others can weaponize the FBI for political purposes, and nothing happens to them," Steube replied. "The American people are sick and tired of people like that using their power and authority for political purposes. And, no, nothing happens to them because of what they've done — other than losing their jobs. So that is frustrating.
"I think you're going to hear from whistleblowers tomorrow in the weaponization committee talking about how the FBI and the DOJ has been completely weaponized for political purposes: from going after school board parents as domestic terrorists to the type of things that they've done on the campaign side to try to use surveillance against individuals in the Trump campaign. I think you're going to hear lots of things like that."
And even if the House goes forward and approves action, there are not 60 votes in the Senate to remove these individuals, Steube said.
"There's ways that we can use the purse strings of the House to really accomplish policy objectives. I think that's the way we should approach it," he said.
In terms of restoring faith in the American justice system, Steube said the only way to do that is to elect a Republican as president in 2024 "because they would have the ability to deep dive into these agencies and get rid of people. ... and replace them with people that are going to apply the law equally and fairly across the board."
He continued, "So that's the real way that we're going to do it. And I hope that Americans that are frustrated like I am with these individuals getting away with this type of activity and not being held criminally liable for it will use their ability to vote in the upcoming presidential election, because that's really the only way that we're going to change."
Steube also took aim at "The Ministry of Misinformation" — what he called the "incestuous relationship" between the White House and media like CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.
"Specifically, [White House press secretary] Karine Jean-Pierre John is supposed to represent the American public and get answers for us from the White House. But she's also a partisan hack. Now she can't talk about the Durham probe, which I guess is appropriate," Steube said.
"The Democrats are using the weaponization of the federal government to accomplish political objectives. And then their hacks in the mainstream media are then regurgitating talking points that are completely false and completely a fraud on the American people.
"I mean, how many years did we hear from the mainstream media that the Trump campaign colluded, conspired with Russia? They spent $36 million on an investigation to find out that's actually not what happened. And now, after this Durham investigation we find out it's actually the Hillary Clinton campaign that was peddling false information to the people in the DOJ, in the FBI, to then get warrants to surveil American citizens to prove something that doesn't occur, but to create this narrative that the mainstream media could perpetuate," he continued.
"And there's still people today that believe that Trump conspired and colluded with the Russian government to win the election in 2016. That's absolutely false. And when we hear the 'Lock her up' chants again, now everyone will know why, at least — if they care to read the Durham report."
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