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Barr Appoints Durham as Special Counsel To Continue Probe of the Russia Investigation

Attorney General William Barr says he has appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham as a special counsel to continue his probe of the origins of the FBI’s 2016 Russian investigation, giving him an extra layer of protection to…

Bradley CortrightDec 1, 20203 min read

Read the order below:

In 2019, Barr appointed Durham to examine the origins of the FBI’s Russia investigation dubbed Crossfire Hurricane to determine whether law enforcement officials broke the law and improperly targeted members of Trump’s campaign.

While Trump’s allies were hoping Durham would release a stunning report detailing wrongdoing in the Russia investigation before the 2020 election, there were no such developments.

And before the election, Barr previously signaled that it was unlikely that there would be.

The president expressed his displeasure with the lack of developments as he said, “If Bill Barr actually made that statement, I would be very disappointed in him. I don’t know that he made that statement.”

After a separate investigation, related to Durham’s probe, concluded without indictments, Trump lashed out and said, “I think it’s really a horrible thing that they’re allowed to get away — when they say no indictments, they actually said no indictments before the election.”

“I had to go through elections with all those clouds over my head. But they don’t because the Republicans are so nice. Personally, I think it’s too bad. I think it’s too bad. They’re guilty as hell,” he added.