Flop Sweat Builds As It Sure Looks Like the Barr-Durham Probe Is Now a Criminal Investigation

CIA Director John Brennan testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 16, 2016, before the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on the Islamic State. Brennan said that the Islamic State remains “formidable” and “resilient,” is training and attempting to deploy operatives for further attacks on the West and will rely more on guerrilla-style tactics to compensate for its territorial losses in the Middle East. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Yesterday, RedState via Elizabeth Vaughn shared the news that Durham had further expanded his investigation to include James Clapper and John Brennan. This of course left Brennan flailing about wildly, wondering why the DOJ would even be interested in him.

John Brennan told NBC that Durham’s investigation is “bizarre” and said, “I don’t know what the legal basis for this is.” He doesn’t? Let me refresh his memory.

Brennan’s obsessive fear that Donald Trump might win the presidency may have instigated the whole collusion narrative. He didn’t have to twist many arms to bring others on board, but his exhaustive search for “dirt” on Trump and his insistence that the FBI open a counterintelligence investigation was key.

That news came on the heels of another report I wrote on a week earlier in which it was confirmed that Barr had expanded his reach past just FISA abuse.

However, based on what he has been finding, Durham has expanded his investigation adding agents and resources, the senior administration officials said. The timeline has grown from the beginning of the probe through the election and now has included a post-election timeline through the spring of 2017, up to when Robert Mueller was named special counsel.

With the latest report, there are a few things happening that make me think this isn’t just window dressing. In fact, I think it has morphed into a full blown criminal investigation.

Note that they’ve moved past looking at process arguments involving FISA and are now targeting specific people. Brennan and Clapper are both going to be interviewed, along with the other analysts involved in Brennan’s much ballyhooed report on Russian interference. It always appeared that the Obama administration threw that report together, lacking much of any evidence, to throw Trump’s presidency into chaos.

Further, officials within these agencies are now scrambling to lawyer up and that’s never a sign things are going well for those involved.

Durham has also requested to talk to CIA analysts involved in the intelligence assessment of Russia’s activities, prompting some of them to hire lawyers, according to three former CIA officials familiar with the matter. And there is tension between the CIA and the Justice Department over what classified documents Durham can examine, two people familiar with the matter said.

It certainly appears that Barr has progressed this into a full blown criminal investigation and that has the media scrambling.

A review launched by AG William Barr into the origins of the Russia investigation has expanded significantly amid concerns about whether the probe has any legal or factual basis. @KenDilanianNBC @Tom_Winter @JuliaEAinsley https://t.co/A00qZoPC0S

— NBC Investigations (@NBCInvestigates) October 19, 2019

Oh, now they are concerned with whether there’s a factual basis for an investigation? I’m sure Donald Trump would be interested in the genesis of this new rule. It’s amazing to behold the lack of self-awareness some of these outlets lack. They spent over two years rattling about Russian collusion, something we found out held no basis in fact, but now they question with a straight face whether an investigation of that process is legitimate?

And here’s Brennan’s MSNBC buddy (Brennan is a paid contributor at the network) feeling a sudden tightening on his backside.

The investigation of William Barr after Donald Trump leaves the White House will unearth reamarkably damning material. He is foolishly acting like Trump will be president forever. He won’t.
In fact, he will be voted out a year from now. Barr better lawyer up. https://t.co/FFQ0d28RG8

— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) October 21, 2019

That’s called projection boys and girls.

The idea that Bill Barr, who has shown himself to be an incredibly smart and tough figure while Attorney General, is going to be be thrown in jail once he leaves office is laughable. You can bet he’s not letting one single detail slip here and the DOJ has an absolute right to investigate corruption within their ranks. It’s not Barr who needs to lawyer up and that’s shown by the fact that it’s those he’s investigating that are running to K Street right now.

Ed Morrisey notes this over at HotAir.

The point about hiring lawyers is especially interesting. The DoJ made sure to note at the beginning that Durham was conducting an internal review, not a criminal investigation, although there was nothing to prevent it from developing into one. The DoJ does not comment on the existence of criminal investigations until they either close one or get an indictment — with a couple of notable James Comey-related exceptions — and they’re not talking now, either. These developments, however, make it look like Durham has turned the corner from review to full-blown criminal investigation.

We’ve always know the IG report from Horowitz was going to be toothless. He can’t even interview people who’ve already left government, so how exactly was he going to get to the bottom of what Brennan, Clapper, Comey, etc. did? But Barr has the power of the judicial system behind him. He can force these people to all sit for interviews, and while Comey may be sly enough to avoid trouble, Brennan is basically a stump with legs.

We’ll see where all this goes. The fact that Barr and Durham are not wrapping this up but are continuing to expand and target specific people is a bad sign for those who helped perpetrate the Russian collusion hoax.

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