Special counsel John Durham’s probe into ‘origins’ of Trump-Russia collusion investigation peters out: report

The special counsel probe of the so-called “origins” of the investigation into ties between Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia has reportedly fizzled out without any major breakthrough.

Three years after John Durham was appointed by the Trump administration, a grand jury that was “investigating the investigators” has folded its tent and another one is not expected to be empaneled, the New York Times reported.

Special counsel John Durham, the prosecutor appointed to investigate potential government wrongdoing in the early days of the Trump-Russia probe, leaves federal court in Washington, May 16, 2022. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/)

The move appears to dash the hopes of Trump and his supporters that Durham would unearth any evidence of a vast liberal conspiracy to improperly investigate the then-Republican candidate over his campaign’s extensive ties to Russia.

Trump’s MAGA supporters believe that top FBI investigators used half-baked evidence to gin up a probe against Trump in the hope of derailing his underdog campaign.

But far from exposing evidence of a deep state anti-Trump cabal, the Durham probe uncovered mostly minor missteps by the FBI and prosecutors.

And it never showed there was any impropriety or political bias in the decision to investigate the Trump campaign.

Durham brought only one criminal case to trial, charging Democratic attorney Michael Sussman with lying to the feds. It took a jury just six hours to toss the case.

An FBI lawyer accused of doctoring an email to win renewal of a wiretap pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and avoided jail time.

A third case against a Russian analyst who helped compile information for the checkered Steele dossier of half-baked claims about Trump is expected to go to trial next month on similar charges of lying to investigators.

Durham has been mostly tight-lipped about the paltry results of his once much-heralded probe.

He is expected to submit a report on his findings by the end of the year. It will be up to Attorney General Merrick Garland whether to publicly release it.

The investigation into Trump’s Russia ties led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller uncovered broad evidence that Russia hoped to help Trump beat Clinton, although it fell short of proving Trump’s campaign coordinated with Kremlin agents.