With an eye toward the 2020 election, Rep. Devin Nunes warned that U.S. Attorney John Durham’s criminal inquiry into the Russia investigation could get stifled.
If former Vice President Joe Biden defeats President Trump and people don’t see accountability, the California Republican cautioned on Thursday, there will be unprecedented unrest.
“What I worry about is, this next election is critical because if Biden somehow was to pull off a victory here, all this will be buried, and we will then be left with a totally corrupt Department of Justice and FBI that will never get fixed, and it will take this country into a level of chaos that we have not seen if these prosecutions are not brought and people are not held to justice and put in jail,” Nunes told Fox Business host Lou Dobbs.
Nunes, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, is leading a congressional inquiry into misconduct during the Russia investigation and has made several criminal referrals to the Justice Department. He argues that it was the Democrats, not the Trump campaign, who were colluding with Russia to develop ex-British spy Christopher Steele’s anti-Trump dossier that was used by the FBI.
Attorney General William Barr appointed Durham, the top federal prosecutor in Connecticut, to conduct his own review of the Russia investigation and said he expects “developments” by the end of the summer.
Despite striking a tone of urgency, Nunes acknowledged Durham has a lot to investigate.
“I am confident that Durham’s doing a thorough investigation. People have to remember: This is a sprawling investigation that stretches on from 2015 to the Mueller probe. So he’s gotta get it right,” Nunes said.
Rep. Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, invoked Durham during a recent Talking Feds podcast as he discussed his concern that “more serious abuse” of federal law enforcement will happen in the coming days.
“One of the concerns I have with Bill Barr is that the worst is yet to come,” the California Democrat said.
Some critics have even raised the alarm about an “October surprise,” but Nunes dismissed the notion that these federal investigators would taint the election.
“I’m not worried about this whole political issue,” he said while making air quotes with his fingers. “These are people that are not politicians. These are people supposedly working for our government. So these are not people that would sway the November election one way or the other. So I think they should bring it, even if it’s Oct. 15.”
