Attorney General William Barr has reportedly started the process of investigating the investigators.
U.S. Attorney John Durham has been tapped to investigate the origins of the Russian probe to determine if intelligence collection efforts — see spying — targeting Donald Trump’s campaign were “lawful and appropriate,” Fox News reported.
Durham has a reputation for being a “hard-charging, bulldog” prosecutor, according to Fox News, which cited two anonymous sources to say that Barr was “serious” in his efforts to get to the bottom of what prompted the initial probe and has assigned DOJ personnel to the case.
With recent reports that Ukrainian players may have leaked damaging information about then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort to help Hillary Clinton’s campaign, all fingers point to the possibility that is was Democrats who were engaged in colluding with foreign actors.
More from Fox News:
Sources familiar with matter say the focus of the probe includes the pre-transition period — prior to Nov. 7, 2016 — including the use and initiation of informants, as well as potential Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) abuses.
An informant working for U.S. intelligence posed as a Cambridge University research assistant in September 2016 to try extracting any possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia from George Papadopoulos, then a Trump foreign policy adviser, it emerged earlier this month. Papadopoulos told Fox News the informant tried to “seduce” him as part of the “bizarre” episode.
Former independent counsel Ken Starr appeared on Fox News’ “Ingraham Angle” to say that Durham, who he called “the most respected prosecutor in the United States,” is “going to get to the bottom of this.”
“He’s totally above politics,” Starr said of Durham. “You can’t talk about he’s an angry Republican — he was confirmed by literally every member of the Senate who voted and why, because of his record. So we have a really honest cop on the beat now.”
Starr also reminded host Laura Ingraham that Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has also promised to get to the bottom of what led to the FBI surveilling the Trump campaign.
“We’re going to find out,” the former independent counsel confidently predicted.
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chair of the House Freedom Caucus, took to Twitter Monday night to applaud the appointment of Durham.
“John Durham is an outstanding choice for special prosecutor investigating 2016 pre-election activities—his selection further demonstrates Bill Barr’s tenacity and determined desire to get to the truth and restore credibility at the top-tier of the DOJ and FBI,” Meadows tweeted.
John Durham is an outstanding choice for special prosecutor investigating 2016 pre-election activities—his selection further demonstrates Bill Barr’s tenacity and determined desire to get to the truth and restore credibility at the top tier of the DOJ and FBI.
— Mark Meadows (@MarkMeadows) May 14, 2019
Recalling last week’s efforts by Democrats to discredit Barr by starting the process of holding him in contempt, Ingraham asked former deputy assistant Attorney General John Yoo if they will now try to “smear” Durham.
“If I were the Democrats, I would be quite worried,” Yoo said. “And the reason why is by appointing a U.S. attorney, Attorney General Barr’s essentially signaling that he thinks it’s possible that criminal violations occurred in the start of the whole investigation into any kind of any kind of Trump-Russia collusion.”
He added that Barr wouldn’t go with someone of Durham’s stature unless he thinks that someone might have violated the law.
“That there might have been malfeasance,” Yoo continued. “That people at the FBI or the Justice Department were acting out of partisan motives not just out of incompetence or stupidity, or they were duped by the Russians or [Christopher] Steel or the English or by the Clinton campaign.”
As for discrediting Barr, Ingraham played a clip of fired FBI director James Comey saying Barr has “lost most of his reputation” — the irony being that Comey may have the most to lose with this latest investigative effort.
After all, as Fox Business Network host Trish Regan tweeted: “This could expose some pretty bad stuff…. Stay tuned.”
BREAKING: The Attorney General appoints a CT attorney with history of investigating officials to get to the bottom of why the FBI was spying on the Trump campaign, per AP report. This could expose some pretty bad stuff…. Stay tuned.
— Trish Regan (@trish_regan) May 14, 2019
DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW
Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!
[email protected]
The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
BPR INSIDER COMMENTS
Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!
