'Partisan hack': Ted Lieu busts John Durham trying to 'spin the facts' on Russia

Rep. Ted. Lieu (D-CA) accused former special counsel John Durham of behaving like a "political hack."

The confrontation came during a Wednesday House Oversight Hearing about Durham's report on the FBI investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Lieu asked Durham if the FBI was obliged to look into Russian interference.

"The FBI should not have ignored that information," Durham agreed.

"A bipartisan U.S. Senate report confirmed that the Russians interfered in the 2016 elections and that that interference benefited Donald Trump," Lieu pointed out. "Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman, also publicly admitted to giving internal Trump campaign data to the Russians, and the U.S. Treasury Department found that this data, which it said was, quote, sensitive information on polling and campaign strategy, was then passed to Russian intelligence services."

"There is a phrase to describe the facts I just set forth," he added. "It's called Russian collusion."

Lieu then asked a series of yes/no questions of Durham.

"Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was convicted, correct?" Lieu asked.

"Correct," Durham replied.

"Trump's former deputy campaign manager, Rick Gates, was convicted, correct?" Lieu pressed.

"That's not in connection with the Russian [investigation]," Durham insisted.

"Mr. Durham, you can hold yourself out as an objective Department of Justice official or as a partisan hack," Lieu warned. "The more that you try to spin the facts and not answer my questions, you sound like the latter."

Lieu concluded by questioning the purpose of the hearing.

"You brought two cases to jury trial based on this investigation, and you lost both," he told Durham. "And so I don't actually know what we're doing here because the author of the Durham report concedes that the FBI had enough information to investigate."

Watch the video at this link.