Former Department of Justice chief spokesman Matt Miller says Attorney General Merrick Garland should “take a pause” and allow another senior career official at the DOJ to review special counsel John Durham's report on the origins of the Russia investigation before its release.
"His cases are over. I think it's clear that he's not going to bring any more charges in this investigation, but one of the requirements for special counsels under the regulations is that they write a confidential report and submit it to the attorney general, and the attorney general then makes a decision whether to release that report to the public," Miller said Wednesday during an appearance on MSNBC's “Alex Wagner Tonight.”
"I think Merrick Garland will be under a lot of pressure from Republicans to release that report, but I have to say, this circumstance is very different from the Mueller investigation, where, obviously, the attorney general, Bill Barr, did release that report," he added.
"It's different because in that case, the subject of that investigation could not be charged, and so it was appropriate for the department to make its findings public, so Congress could decide whether to impeach and convict the then-sitting president," Miller added. "That is not the case here, so to release a report in this instance — given what we know about the way Durham has behaved, some of his inappropriate public statements during this investigation, the poor judgments he has made in bringing these charges — to release a report publicly and let him have the final word I think would really probably unfairly tarnish some people at the FBI that we know he holds ill will, too, based on some of the things he said in this most recent trial.
"So I think the attorney general would be wise to take a pause before releasing that report, maybe let another senior career official at the Justice Department review it and decide whether John Durham really is the person to have the final word on the Russia investigation."
Igor Danchenko, the primary source for the Trump-Russia dossier, was acquitted Tuesday of four counts of lying to the FBI in another defeat for Durham, who has taken two cases to trial. Both have ended in acquittals.
Durham was assigned by the Justice Department in 2019 to examine the origins of the probe into the 2016 Trump campaign's ties to Russia.
His report is supposed to be finalized by the end of the year.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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