For those wondering if U.S. Attorney John Durham’s secretive review of the origins and conduct of the Trump-Russia investigation will be delayed by the growing coronavirus outbreak in the United States, a new report offered a clue.
Attorney General William Barr told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published Monday that Durham, the top federal prosecutor in Connecticut, was in Washington, D.C., last week working on the high-profile inquiry with staffers.
“There’s some discombobulation, but part of what we’re trying to do is keep up the mission,” Barr said of the Justice Department’s commitment to proceed with criminal investigations, prioritize coronavirus-related fraud prosecutions, keep the justice system functioning amid court closures and trial suspensions, and pursue other Trump administration priorities during a deadly outbreak.
Last week, Fox News reported that Durham was on pace to finish his “investigation of the investigators” by the summer. One source “suggested the investigation could end as soon as July.” But another “said it could be closer to September, based on Durham’s progress, which could be hindered by the coronavirus pandemic rocking the nation and the globe.”
Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, also said this month that Durham’s inquiry is “due to be completed sometime this summer.”
Durham was appointed last year by Barr to review possible misconduct by federal law enforcement and intelligence officials in the Russia investigation. The review upgraded into a criminal investigation in the fall, allowing Durham the power to impanel a grand jury and hand down indictments. Democrats have criticized the review as a politically motivated scheme to undermine the work of former special counsel Robert Mueller and attack President Trump’s perceived enemies.
Trump gave Barr “full and complete authority to declassify information” last year. Durham was assigned to review possible misconduct by federal law enforcement and intelligence officials during the counterintelligence investigation into Trump’s 2016 campaign by Barr.
DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz conducted an investigation into allegations of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuses. His report, released in December, identified at least 17 “significant errors or omissions” in the Justice Department’s and the FBI’s use of British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s dossier when pursuing FISA warrants to wiretap Trump campaign associate Carter Page in 2016 and 2017.
Following the independent watchdog’s FISA report, Barr said he told Durham to focus just as much on the FBI’s actions after Trump’s election in November 2016 as those before it, including the period of spring 2017, when Mueller was appointed.
Durham is reportedly reviewing former CIA Director John Brennan’s analysis of Russian election interference, including scrutiny of his handling of a secret source said to be close to the Kremlin. Some of the U.S. attorney’s scrutiny revolves around how the U.S. government eventually reached its January 2017 intelligence assessment on Russian election interference. Durham has already interviewed former National Security Agency Director Adm. Mike Rogers.
During the Wall Street Journal interview, Barr also said the Justice Department is continuing to look into whether Google was breaking antitrust laws by clamping down on its competitors. He said he hoped “decision time” would be early summer. Barr also said he was worried “things are getting out of control” with local liberal prosecutors releasing people from prison and declining charges as the COVID-19 outbreak spreads.
