The FBI and Justice Department jumped to investigate former President Trump’s campaign despite a lack of sound evidence, a ‘notable departure’ from the way it resisted efforts to investigate claims against Hillary Clinton’s campaign, according to Special Counsel John Durham’s final report on the probe into alleged election collusion between Trump and Russia.

Durham’s long awaited report from his investigation into FBI’s ‘Crossfire Hurricane’ probe was delivered to Congress on Monday and revealed that FBI and DOJ ‘failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law’ when it launched the Trump-Russia investigation.

Durham’s report also highlighted that the Trump investigation was ‘markedly different’ from the government’s level of interest in Clinton’s campaign.

Durham’s report said the FBI briefed Clinton staffers on information of possible threats aimed at the Clinton campaign, but ignored intelligence it received from ‘a trusted foreign source pointing to a Clinton campaign plan to vilify Trump by tying him to Vladimir Putin so as to divert attention from her own concerns relating to her use of a private email server.’

‘The speed and manner in which the FBI opened and investigated Crossfire Hurricane during the presidential election season based on raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence also reflected a noticeable departure from how it approached prior matters involving possible attempted foreign election interference plans aimed at the Clinton campaign,’ the report said.

‘[I]n the eighteen months leading up to the 2016 election, the FBI was required to deal with a number of proposed investigations that had the potential of affecting the election,’ the report said. In each of those instances – including those related to Clinton – the FBI moved with ‘considerable caution.’

‘In one such matter… FBI Headquarters and Department officials required defensive briefings to be provided to Clinton and other officials or candidates who appeared to be the targets of foreign interference,’ the report said.

‘In another, the FBI elected to end an investigation after one of its longtime and valuable CHSs [confidential human sources] went beyond what was authorized and made an improper and possibly illegal financial contribution to the Clinton campaign on behalf of a foreign entity as a precursor to a much larger donation being contemplated,’ it said.

‘And in a third, the Clinton Foundation matter, both senior FBI and Department officials placed restrictions on how those matters were to be handled such that essentially no investigative activities occurred for months leading up to the election,’ the report said.

‘Unlike the FBI’s opening of a full investigation of unknown members of the Trump campaign based on raw, uncorroborated information, in this separate matter involving a purported Clinton campaign plan, the FBI never opened any type of inquiry, issued any taskings, employed any analytical personnel, or produced any analytical products in connection with the information,’ it found.

‘This lack of action was despite the fact that the significance of the Clinton plan intelligence was such as to have prompted the Director of the CIA to brief the President, Vice President, Attorney General, Director of the FBI, and other senior government officials about its content within days of its receipt,’ the report said.

The FBI reacted to the report Monday in a statement: ‘The conduct in 2016 and 2017 that Special Counsel Durham examined was the reason that current FBI leadership already implemented dozens of corrective actions, which have now been in place for some time. Had those reforms been in place in 2016, the missteps identified in the report could have been prevented. This report reinforces the importance of ensuring the FBI continues to do its work with the rigor, objectivity, and professionalism the American people deserve and rightly expect.’

Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has nominated Michael Noriega, a 45-year-old immigration lawyer and public defender from Fanwood, for a seat on the state’s Supreme Court.If confirmed, Noriega will officially succeed retired Justice Barry Albin, whose seat has been temporarily filled by Appellate Court Judge Jack Sabatino since July.Republican State Sen. Jon Bramnick, a partner at Noriega’s law firm, praised him as ‘an attorney of immense integrity.’

Gov. Phil Murphy has nominated Michael Noriega to be the next justice on the state Supreme Court, who if confirmed would be the first former public defender to sit on New Jersey’s top court.

Noriega, 45, of Fanwood, is a longtime immigration lawyer and criminal defense attorney. He would replace Barry Albin, who retired last July after 19 years on the bench. Since that time, Appellate Court Judge Jack Sabatino has been temporarily filling that seat.

The Democratic governor announced his choice Monday. The nomination will first be considered by the state Senate Judiciary Committee and, if they approve, the full senate would then hold a confirmation vote.

Noriega is a partner with the Scotch Plains-based law firm of Bramnick, Rodriguez, Grabas, Arnold and Mangan. The firm’s principals include state Sen. Jon Bramnick, a Republican from Union County who called Noriega ‘an attorney of immense integrity.’

The son of Peruvian immigrants, Noriega was born in Weehawken and was raised in Union City. He graduated from Rutgers University and received his law degree from Seton Hall, where he has also served as an adjunct law professor. He was an assistant deputy public defender in Essex County from 2003 to 2008.

Noriega and his wife, Melissa, a school psychologist, are the parents of four daughters.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, along with a number of his fellow Republicans, launched a flurry of criticism at the FBI following Monday’s release of Special Counsel John Durham’s report on the origin’s of the Trump-Russia investigation.

‘The Durham Report confirmed what we already knew: weaponized federal agencies manufactured a false conspiracy theory about Trump-Russia collusion. It reminds us of the need to clean house at these agencies, as they’ve never been held accountable for this egregious abuse of power,’ DeSantis wrote on Twitter.

He was joined by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., who simply wrote, ‘Defund and dismantle the FBI,’ and Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., who wrote, ‘These liars worked hand-in-hand to interfere in our election. They MUST be held to account.’

Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy called the report ‘a scathing indictment of the FBI,’ and repeated his calls for the agency to be shut down. 

‘Enough is enough. Root out the corruption & shut down the FBI. This is achievable. At the local level, we have police & prosecutors. At the federal level, we have U.S. marshals & the DOJ. An intermediary bureaucracy is rife with risk for politicized corruption & it’s been happening since J. Edgar Hoover in the 60s,’ he wrote.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, wrote that the FBI’s actions according to the Durham report ‘can’t be dismissed as mere carelessness or even a severe example of garden-variety misconduct,’ and described its reported actions ‘corrupt and as subversive of the Constitution as it gets.’

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a statement that ‘the baseless and politically motivated Russia collusion lie robbed the American people of three years and tens of millions in taxpayer dollars,’ and that FBI and DOJ officials ‘at best, consciously avoided their duty of due diligence, and at worst, knowingly and willingly participated in one of the dirtiest smears in American history.’

He added that the FBI ‘allowed itself to be hijacked and weaponized by political actors to target a political rival during a presidential election and administration.’ 

‘Where does President [Donald Trump] go for his apology??? What about all of the other lives ruined by Witch-Hunt #1?’ Trump campaign advisor Jason Miller tweeted. 

House Judiciary Chair Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, wrote that he had reached out to the DOJ to have Durham testify before the committee next week.

‘Where are the Democrat voices on the Durham report? They need to get loud on this. If it’s only Republicans who care when a Republican is targeted then we’re in a world of hurt as a country,’ former U.N. Ambassador and presidential candidate Nikki Haley wrote.

Durham’s report was released Monday afternoon after his years-long investigation into the origins of the FBI’s original investigation, known as ‘Crossfire Hurricane.’ That investigation looked into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election, and his report spanned more than 300 pages.

‘Based on the review of Crossfire Hurricane and related intelligence activities, we conclude that the Department and the FBI failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law in connection with certain events and activities described in this report,’ the report said.

Durham added that his investigation also revealed that ‘senior FBI personnel displayed a serious lack of analytical rigor towards the information that they received, especially information received from politically-affiliated persons and entities.’ 

Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

The Biden administration cleared a large West Virginia-to-Virginia natural gas pipeline project to be constructed through federal forest land, a key step in approving it to resume construction.

The Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service issued a record of decision Monday afternoon, allowing the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project to cut through a 3.5-mile stretch of the Jefferson National Forest (JNF) along the West Virginia-Virginia border. The determination clears the way for the project — which is 94% complete, but has been mired in a lengthy permitting process for years — to finish construction.

‘Under the proposed action, the Forest Service would amend the JNF Forest Plan as necessary to allow for the MVP to cross the JNF and concur in a decision by the [Bureau of Land Management] to grant a [right of way permit] and a [temporary use permit] under the [Mineral Leasing Act],’ Agriculture Under Secretary Homer Wilkes wrote in the decision.

While the decision allows MVP developer Equitrans Midstream, a Pennsylvania-based natural gas transmission company, to construct the pipeline in the 3.5-mile stretch through the JNF, the Forest Service is requiring it to obtain any outstanding federal and state permits before beginning on construction. 

The project is awaiting a record of decision from the Bureau of Land Management and authorization from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. And the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s recent permitting decision in favor of the pipeline is being challenged in federal court while a permit issued by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection was struck down by a federal court in April.

The Forest Service’s determination Monday, meanwhile, comes after the agency’s two previous approvals for the pipeline to cut through the JNF were rejected by a federal judge in 2018 and 2022, respectively. Environmentalists have adamantly opposed the project, arguing it would destroy sensitive land and ecosystems.

‘The Forest Service’s preferred alternative to allow MVP to rip through the Jefferson National Forest grossly underestimates the lasting environmental harms from the project, ignores the overwhelming public opposition to sacrificing this treasured land and shirks the agency’s responsibility to steward forests,’ Jessica Sims, a field coordinator for environmental group Appalachian Voice, said Monday. 

‘We maintain that the Mountain Valley Pipeline cannot be built through the Jefferson National Forest without lasting damage to sensitive forests, habitats and waters,’ Sims added. ‘Amending a forest plan 11 times to accommodate a ruinous project on federal land is unacceptable.’

The approval also comes as Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has repeatedly criticized the Biden administration over its energy and climate policies. Manchin has been a vocal proponent of the project, arguing it would create 2,500 construction jobs, $40 million in new tax revenue for his home state, $10 million in new tax revenue for Virginia and up to $250 million in royalties for West Virginia landowners.

Overall, the 303.5-mile pipeline would transport about two billion cubic feet per day of natural gas from West Virginia to consumers in the Mid- and South Atlantic. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm penned a letter last month to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission members, arguing that the project would help boost reliable energy for Americans.

Equitrans announced last year that it expected the pipeline to go into service during the second half of 2023. Federal regulators gave the company until 2026 to complete the project.

The Forest Service didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Biden administration may halt plans to move U.S. Space Command’s headquarters from Colorado to Alabama over the latter’s restrictive abortion laws. 

Multiple U.S. officials, including at least one in defense, told NBC News that the White House may be laying the groundwork to halt those plans because of ‘abortion politics.’ 

Just days before leaving office and following an intense lobbying battle, then-President Trump announced that the U.S. Space Command would be headquartered in Huntsville, Ala. 

The move from its current headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs was expected to take several years and cost more than $1 billion. 

A review by Biden Defense Department’s inspector general found the relocation ‘lawful’ and ‘reasonable.’ 

The Biden administration later requested a ‘review of the review’ over concerns that the relocation could mean a protracted delay in settling the Space Command in a new location. The review also came after Alabama implemented a law that outlawed abortion at any stage of pregnancy with no exceptions for rape or incest. 

In March, the administration signaled it was ready to reverse Trump’s decision and keep the Space Command’s headquarters in Colorado Springs, where it has been for decades. 

The White House has not said Alabama’s abortion law was a factor in its ongoing review of the decision to move Space Command’s headquarters. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to Space Command and the White House for comment. 

Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report. 

The FBI responded Monday to the scathing report by Special Counsel John Durham that found the Department of Justice and FBI ‘failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law’ when it launched the Trump-Russia investigation. 

In a statement to Fox News Digital, the agency touted what it said were ‘dozens of corrective actions’ already implemented as a result of the Durham investigation.

‘The conduct in 2016 and 2017 that Special Counsel Durham examined was the reason that current FBI leadership already implemented dozens of corrective actions, which have now been in place for some time. Had those reforms been in place in 2016, the missteps identified in the report could have been prevented,’ the FBI said. 

‘This report reinforces the importance of ensuring the FBI continues to do its work with the rigor, objectivity, and professionalism the American people deserve and rightly expect,’ it added.

Fox obtained Durham’s report Monday afternoon after his years-long investigation into the origins of the FBI’s original investigation, known as ‘Crossfire Hurricane.’ That investigation looked into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Durham gave his final report to the Justice Department, which released it Monday afternoon. The report spans more than 300 pages.

‘Based on the review of Crossfire Hurricane and related intelligence activities, we conclude that the Department and the FBI failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law in connection with certain events and activities described in this report,’ the report said.

Durham said his investigation also revealed that ‘senior FBI personnel displayed a serious lack of analytical rigor towards the information that they received, especially information received from politically-affiliated persons and entities.’

‘This information in part triggered and sustained Crossfire Hurricane and contributed to the subsequent need for Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation,’ the report said. ‘In particular, there was significant reliance on investigative leads provided or funded (directly or indirectly) by Trump’s political opponents.’

‘The Department did not adequately examine or question these materials and the motivations of those providing them, even when at about the same time the Director of the FBI and others learned of significant and potentially contrary intelligence,’ the report said.