A top Republican investigator said he expects U.S. Attorney John Durham to release a report “real soon.”
Rep. Jim Jordan, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, reported on Sunday having “numerous talks” with the Justice Department.
“Mr. Durham is doing his work. I expect some kind of report … real soon,” Jordan said when asked by Maria Bartiromo on Fox News about the criminal inquiry into the Russia investigation.
He did not provide more specific details.
Durham was appointed by Attorney General William Barr more than a year and a half ago to investigate misconduct by federal law enforcement, intelligence officials, and others related to the FBI’s inquiry into links between President Trump’s campaign and Russia. So far, the prosecutor has secured one guilty plea from a former FBI lawyer.
Democrats and national security veterans have criticized the DOJ inquiry as a politicized weapon that Barr can use against the president’s political adversaries. Trump and his allies hope Durham will uncover evidence that there was a “coup” to undermine his campaign and administration.
Buzz about Durham dissipated in early October when it became clear there would not be any major indictments or a report before the election. Some have raised concerns that a Biden administration would bury Durham’s findings. President-elect Joe Biden is poised to take office in roughly 66 days.
“Like you, I am frustrated that it didn’t happen sooner,” Jordan said. “But, look, you and I can’t prosecute anyone. We can’t indict anyone. All we can do is get the facts out to the American people. The Justice Department has to do that. I’m hopeful they are going to have something real soon for the American people.”
Earlier in the interview, the Ohio Republican was asked to respond to congressional testimony last week by former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who expressed regret about signing off on a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act application seeking continued authority to wiretap onetime Trump campaign adviser Carter Page in 2017. During a CNN appearance on Friday, McCabe made the stunning assertion that secret Russia investigation documents that Republicans hope will get declassified “risk casting the president in a very negative light.”
“I don’t put a whole lot of stock in what Andy McCabe is saying now about the investigation he launched four years ago,” Jordan said.
