DOJ focus shifts to counterintelligence effort that Barr called ‘spying’
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According to the NY Times…
AG Barr has assigned a top federal prosecutor in Connecticut to examine the origins of the Russia investigation.
John Durham, the US attorney in Connecticut, has a history of serving as a special prosecutor investigating potential wrongdoing among national security officials.
Opening a DOJ investigation is “a move that President Trump has long called for but that could anger law enforcement officials who insist that scrutiny of the Trump campaign was lawful.”
Now, there are 3 related investigations…
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The other investigations
The DOJ’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz, is separately examining investigators’ use of wiretap applications and informants and whether any political bias against Mr. Trump influenced investigative decisions.
Horowitz’s report is expected in the next few weeks, and Mr. Durham can has the necessary authorities to pick up any criminal referrals from Mr. Horowitz’s looming report.
And John Huber, the US attorney in Utah, has been reviewing aspects of the Russia investigation. His investigation has been kept in deep background, but may now have a stage for his findings.
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Why this matters
Since Mueller investigation found “insufficient evidence” to determine that the president or his advisers engaged in a criminal conspiracy with Russia, a logical question arises:
Was there reasonable cause to pursue the matter in the first place … or, was it plain and simple political skullduggery using the FBI and the US “intelligence community”?
On a practical level, these investigations complicate the Dems strategy of hauling Barr, Mueller, etc., into public hearings to keep the now debunked Russia collusion story alive.
Every time they do, the provide the GOP members with an opportunity to showcase these investigations and impugn Comey, Stryk, Page, Brennan, Clapper, Lynch, et.al.
Who knows where that might lead…
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