Lindsey Graham downplays Trump-touted Durham investigation as probe ends 'with a whimper'

WASHINGTON —John Durham's grand jury to investigate the Russia investigation is reportedly winding down.

Donald Trump had promised that Durham's probe would turn up the corruption of former special counsel Robert Mueller and of Hillary Clinton. It hasn't. MSNBC commentator Steve Benen described the investigation as “ending with a whimper.”

Durham was from Connecticut and was always thought of as a respectable U.S. Attorney for the Justice Department, said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT).

"My sense was that he probably wouldn't find anything and my hope has always been that he would play it pretty straight," he explained to Raw Story. "Trump put a lot of these guys in a very difficult position. You accept a job from the Trump DOJ, you, unfortunately, make yourself a political actor and an agent of Trump's agenda. So, I'm not sure if John would have taken that job had he known what was going to become of the mission."

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One of Trump's closest allies, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), downplayed the importance of the Durham investigation when speaking with Raw Story.

"It's been so long since the event, I don't know if it's going to change anything. It'll be curious to see what he found. It'd have to be a a real smoking gun at this late" in the game, he said.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said that Durham has been able to get a hold of documents that otherwise would not have been available.

"Partly because there is an active investigation, which is what the FBI/DOJ always says when they don't want to turn over documents," said Johnson. "So, he's seen some of these things in the things he's revealed. But unless Attorney General [Merrick] Garland releases his final report to the public we may never know. But if he wraps up his investigation and I survive and I'm chairman and we're in the majority and I'm chairman of the subcommittee on the investigation, hopefully we can gain access to those documents."

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Durham's investigation resulted in the indictment of Igor Danchenko, an analyst who put info into Christopher Steele's dossier. Danchenko was charged in a grand jury indictment with five counts of making false statements to the FBI in 2017. According to the indictment, Danchenko lied when he said he'd never communicated with a PR executive who was working in Democratic politics about the Steele dossier.

Danchenko has pleaded not guilty.

Durham's investigation also resulted in the indictment of former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann, who was acquitted on charges of lying to the FBI.

With additional reporting by Matt Laslo