President Trump all but confirmed Friday that his Justice Department has opened a criminal probe into the origins of the counterintelligence investigation that examined allegations of links between his campaign and Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
“It looks like it’s becoming very serious from what I’m hearing,” Trump told reporters at the White House as he departed for South Carolina. “Investigate the investigators.”
He added: “I can’t tell you what’s happening. I will tell you this, I think you’re going to see a lot of really bad things.”
Attorney General William Barr appointed John Durham, the US attorney in Connecticut, to lead the inquiry into the origins of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The Justice Department previously considered the probe to be administrative. The change in designation gives prosecutors the ability to issue subpoenas, impanel a grand jury, compel witnesses to give testimony and bring federal criminal charges.
It’s unclear when Durham’s inquiry shifted to a criminal investigation, a development first reported by The New York Times.
It’s also unclear what led the Justice Department to open the probe or what investigators are examining.
Fox News reported this week that Durham was hoping to question two top intelligence officials under President Obama — former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA director John Brennan.
Democratic lawmakers leading the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees told the Associated Press in a statement late Thursday the change raises “profound new concerns” that Barr’s Justice Department “has lost its independence and become a vehicle for President Trump’s political revenge.”
The change in designation comes as Barr’s efforts to review the underpinnings of Mueller’s probe come under intense scrutiny.
Robert Mueller testifies before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.Getty ImagesTrump and his Republican allies have frequently charged that US and foreign intelligence services conspired to prevent Trump’s election, though no evidence has emerged to support the theory,
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte
had any connection with a professor whose encounter with a Trump campaign aide in 2016 helped spur the FBI’s counterintelligence probe of Russian meddling — undercutting a theory being probed by Barr.
The professor, Joseph Mifsud, told Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos in 2016 that the Russians had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of thousands of her emails.
Papadopoulos allegedly stayed in contact with Mifsud before telling an Australian diplomat about the emails over drinks in a London pub.
The Aussie, Alexander Downer, contacted his superiors, who reached out to American officials —
Papadopoulos later became the first person to plead guilty in Mueller’s probe and was sentenced to 14 days in prison.
Team Trump
in the campaign,
.”
Australian officials said they are cooperating with Barr but dismissed allegations they acted inappropriately,
The first two years of Trump’s administration were overshadowed by former FBI director Mueller’s probe into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible ties between Trump’s campaign and Moscow.
“While the investigation identified numerous links between individuals with ties to the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump campaign, the evidence was not sufficient to support criminal charges,” Mueller’s
released in April, found.
With Post wires
