Justice department opens criminal inquiry into origins of Russia investigation – source – By The Guardian Staff (The Guardian) / Oct 25 2019
Trump has complained that his campaign was improperly targeted, but critics say department is being used to chase conspiracy theories
A US Justice Department review of the origins of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election is now a criminal investigation, a person familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
The person, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, declined to say whether a grand jury had been convened in the investigation.
The development was first reported by the New York Times and is likely to raise concerns that Donald Trump and his allies may be using the powers of the government to go after their opponents.
It comes as Trump is already facing an impeachment inquiry examining whether he withheld military aid to pressure the president of Ukraine to launch an investigation of former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
US Attorney General William Barr launched a review earlier this year to investigate Donald Trump’s complaints that his campaign was improperly targeted by US intelligence and law enforcement agencies during the 2016 election.
It is unclear what potential crimes are being investigated, but the designation as a formal criminal investigation gives prosecutors the ability to issue subpoenas, potentially empanel a grand jury and compel witnesses to give testimony and bring federal criminal charges.
Democrats and some former law enforcement officials say Barr is using the justice department to chase unsubstantiated conspiracy theories that could benefit the Republican president politically and undermine the former special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
As part of his inquiry, Barr has asked Australian and British justice officials for assistance and visited Italy twice, meeting intelligence agents in Rome in August and September to learn more about people mentioned in Mueller’s report.
The chairmen of the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees, which are leading the impeachment inquiry, said in a statement late on Thursday that the reports “raise profound new concerns” that Barr’s justice department “has lost its independence and become a vehicle for President Trump’s political revenge.”
Mueller’s investigation shadowed Trump’s presidency for nearly two years and outraged the Republican president, who cast it as a politically motivated “witch hunt.”
Mueller’s investigation found that Moscow interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump, and led to criminal convictions of several former campaign aides. But Mueller concluded that he did not have enough evidence to establish a criminal conspiracy with Russia.
Barr appointed the Connecticut state attorney John Durham to lead the review of whether US intelligence and law enforcement agencies acted properly when they examined possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
The Justice Department has said Trump recently made several calls at Barr’s request to foreign leaders, including Australian prime minister Scott Morrison, to help the attorney general with the Durham investigation.
Barr also traveled with Durham to Italy in August and September, and the two met with Italian intelligence officials to seek information about the activities of FBI agents assigned there, Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte said Wednesday.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Donald Trump Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP
