Some explosive moments took place during the House Judiciary hearings today as Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) accused Special Counsel John Durham of being part of a “cover-up” of the FBI “op” on former President Trump. See the video below.
The afternoon session began with Gaetz asking Durham why he never found, questioned, or subpoenaed the man who began the original sin of the Trump-Russia narrative setting, Joseph Mifsud. Mifsud was the shadowy Maltese professor who tried to entice Trump underling George Papadopolous with a honey pot known as Azra Turk, who Durham let slipped was an FBI agent.
The “blonde bombshell,” Turk, posed as one of Mifsud’s “research assistants” as she tried to get cozy with Papadopolous in what Gaetz and other Republicans believe was an attempt to create a fake Trump-Russia connection.
In 2019, The New York Post reported that neither Turk or Mifsud has been heard from again.
Turk, whose real name is unknown, traveled to London to work with Cambridge University professor Stefan Halper, a longtime FBI informant whom the feds had told to set up a meeting with Papadopoulos, according to the Times.
But the feds learned nothing of value when Papadopoulos and Turk had drinks on Sept. 15, 2016, or when Papadopoulos later met with Halper at the Sofitel hotel in London’s West End, and Turk returned to the US, the Times said.
The New York Times reported that “to Democrats, Mr. Mifsud is among the clearest links between Russia and the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election,” but in fact, Mifsud appeared to have been an intelligence asset. In “April 2016, [Mifsu] told one of the Trump campaign’s foreign policy advisers, George Papadopoulos, that Russia had thousands of emails with compromising information on Hillary Clinton, setting off a chain of events that eventually led to Mr. Mueller’s investigation.”
Durham tried to explain that he could only find Mifsud’s attorney during an overseas trip to Italy. Gaetz was incredulous that Durham couldn’t find him.
“Do you know who could probably locate him?” Gaetz asked, “The features of Western intelligence and possibly our own government who put him in play [as an agent].”
Gaetz wasn’t done. “Your report seems to be less an indictment of the FBI and more of an inoculation… and like many inoculations, it may have worse consequences down the road.”
2/2 .@RepMattGaetz accuses #Durham of covering up for the FBI "op."Durham slips that Turk was FBI personnel, Gaetz: "Who gave the order to do that?"
Durham: "that beyond the scope of what's in the report."
Gaetz: "That's literally the scope of what your charging document is." pic.twitter.com/MLVUeo8zXd— Victoria Taft, The Adult in the Room, FITF Squad (@VictoriaTaft) June 21, 2023
“It’s hard to, like, pretend this was a sincere effort when you don’t get to the fundamental thing that started the whole deal,” Gaetz accused.
Durham bristled. “I was away from my family for four years essentially doing this investigation that is my view a sincere effort,” he answered with a touch of sarcasm.
Gaetz was interrupted by another congressman who asked, “Is he alive or dead?”
“I don’t know,” replied Durham.
Related: John Durham Needs to Tell Congress Answers to These Questions About Russia! Russia! Russia!
Mifsud’s backstory is murky at best. The Gray Man was at one time a professor at the London Academy of Diplomacy. The Times reported that he later “worked as a ‘full-time professorial teaching fellow’ at the University of Stirling in Scotland” and had a connection with the University of Malta.
The man with the murky past who worked with an FBI agent and started planting the Trump-Russia collusion fairy tale conjured up by Hillary Clinton’s team with the knowledge of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Susan Rice, the CIA chief, and others, is simply … gone.
And good on Matt Gaetz for asking.
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