Congress has not been briefed on U.S. Attorney John Durham’s review of the Russia investigation, according to a leading GOP investigator.
Rep. Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said “no” when asked during a Just the News podcast on Thursday whether Durham or Attorney General William Barr have provided lawmakers an update on the inquiry.
“Remember: The attorney general said that he expects the investigation and then some kind of presentation or report, I assume — but he said he expects the investigation to end sometime this summer,” the Ohio congressman said.
The interview indicated that lawmakers, including Jordan, had little official information to go on as they talked about Durham’s work over the past year. For instance, Rep. Doug Collins, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, told Fox News in late February that there will not be a report from Durham and rather that the public would hear about the progress the prosecutor has made if and when there is an indictment.
When asked, Jordan declined to speculate on whether any officials will be indicted in Durham’s inquiry or if investigators will turn up evidence of “spying” on the Trump campaign earlier than when the FBI said it opened its Crossfire Hurricane counterintelligence investigation in the summer of 2016.
But the congressman said he does reserve his “suspicions” about an earlier time frame for that investigation and Russia “dirt” tipster Joseph Mifsud. Jordan said he believes crimes were committed and that one former FBI lawyer in particular, Kevin Clinesmith, who altered a key document in FISA filings related to former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, deserves to be prosecuted. Jordan also said top former officials, namely former FBI Director James Comey, were the main root of the “problem.”
Some reporting has suggested the coronavirus outbreak may delay the secretive inquiry, but Jordan said he hopes for a swing toward normalcy soon.
“Let’s hope it’s early summer,” Jordan said. “Let’s hope we get through this and get back to a more normal America and get through this virus issue, and then we’ll wait for that information, and then we can proceed with making sure we get the truth.”
Indeed, Barr told the Wall Street Journal late last month that Durham, the top federal prosecutor in Connecticut, was recently in Washington, D.C., working on the high-profile inquiry with staffers.
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.
